It’s been over 3 years since I first took my paying client. I’ve been thinking about my journey in photography, and wanted to share it with you today! It always lifts me up to see how far I’ve come. To celebrate that, here are some photos from then & now!
The first photo I was EVER proud of taking was this one
I remember my Mom dressed my sisters and I up in her old prom dresses, and we went into the backyard for a little photoshoot. I took my first photos and fell in love!
After this I loved taking my parent’s little camera and exploring the world.
My first subjects were my siblings
I started planning my own little “fashion photoshoots” featuring my little sisters
and took lots & lots & lots of self portraits!
Before selfies & even cell phones were a thing. This first one shows my love for photography – notice the film wrapped around my wrist! Very…. deep hahaha.
I also started playing around with Photoshop, which made for some really funny early composites!
This one was the knight in shining armor hahaha
and this one was supposed to show my love of reading! Why the fishbowl, you may ask? I really honestly couldn’t tell you hahaha.
As funny as these are to look back on, I really love the creativity of my early work. My photographs were created straight from my heart – they were photos of people and things that I loved.
My work slowly got better
And then finally, in college, I started learning the actual techniques of photography! I rented my first camera – a Canon Rebel – and learned about all the photography basics. Shooting in manual, lighting, editing, ect. This is where my work started getting a lot better, technically!
I started taking my first paying clients
And it all just kept growing from there!
You can see I have grown SO much! The reason I’m sharing this with you today is because it is so powerful to see how far you’ve come, from when you first started.
When I first started taking paying clients, there were a lot of times that I felt discouraged. I wondered why my work didn’t look as good as other people’s. It felt like they had some magic knowledge that was unobtainable to me. I was so wrong!
If you’re just starting out and feeling discouraged, here are some tips to get to where you want to be
– Practice, practice, practice. Practice posing. Practice lighting. Practice using your camera.
– Do your research. Find images you love, and study them. What tools did the photographer use to create that image? What kind of lighting? What direction was the lighting coming from? What composition did they use? What kind of editing?
– Be consistent. This is the most beneficial thing you can do! If you make little steps every single day, you will make so much progress long term. In a year, or two, or five, you’ll look back at your work and be so surprised to see how far you’ve come.
And if you’re ever feeling discouraged along the way – take some time, look at the progress you’ve made, and celebrate it! Because that’s something to be proud of 🙂
