Uplift Blog Series: I wanted to help be a part of online positivity in the wake of the coronavirus and social distancing measures. I have had the honor of working with some amazing people who have such interesting and uplifting stories. ❤️I think now is the perfect time to share some of those. At first, I was going to put them all into one post but I think they are each so strong they deserve their own post and it will give me something to look forward to sharing with the world each day.

DAY 37

I love swapping stories with others about how they got their start in whatever they are passionate about. I remember when I was 15 or 16, I borrowed my sister’s point and shoot digital camera. My best friend and I got dressed up and I took pictures of her individually and us together. We had such a good time and felt so confident. I have no idea where those photos are now but that was so much fun. ❤️Then when I was 19 I bought a film camera from goodwill. I bought some film and my friend show me how to load it. I started photographing everything.

Here are a few of the photos I took with the film camera:

Then, I got a t2i rebel DSLR camera. To give you an idea of how old that is, they now have a t7i. haha At the time it was perfect. I had no idea how to use a camera really. I just took it everywhere with me and photographed a lot for two years. I photographed family, friends, pets, my apartment, myself, and pretty much anyone or anything who would let me. I taught myself how to use it and used youtube plus Pinterest often to learn as much as possible. Here are some photos from those days:

The first time I got paid for a session it was actually a tip. I photographed the family of one of my roller derby sisters. I can’t remember if she asked me to do it or if I asked her? But I remember not charging anything because I wasn’t comfortable yet. They ended up tipping me $50 when I delivered the photos. They knew I was saving up for photoshop and on the check they wrote “For your photoshop fund.” It was the cutest thing. Then I gradually started charging for sessions. I read a lot online about business, taxes, contracts, etc. I think I started somewhere around $35 for a one hour session, then $50, then $60, then $75 and up from there. The better I got, the more I charged. I charged $150 for the first elopement I did and $500 for the first wedding. That was over 7 years ago now.
Here are more of my photos as I dug deeper into photography. I also took thousands of photos when I lived in South Korea for a year. Most of these are from that time period:
*I played roller derby in South Korea too, so there are some photos of my teammates (one of whom was in the movie Whip it, which inspired me to start playing roller derby back in 2009.)

Fast forward to the past five years or so. I have really dug into photography as a career. I attended an amazing business seminar (Hustle and Flow), I went to a photography conference. I found my editing and shooting style. This is something I am so passionate about and something I can’t ever imagine not doing. Retirement doesn’t sound realistic to me because I will always be photographing. I love people and I love creating mementos of them to have forever.