What are you thinking?

Hello Friends and welcome to my VERY FIRST ever blog post!! Yes, that’s right, the year is 2018, I’ve been a photographer over 2 years and I am finally writing my very first blog post! Can I just start by saying how freeing it feels as I type this that I will not be receiving a numerical grade for this?! The average student in me is jumping for joy! Although feel free to leave a grade in the comments below. 

So, here I am. Just a little over a month after leaving a company where I worked for almost 15 years to now pursue my own business as a wedding and portrait photographer. I can recall telling people I worked with that I was going to be leaving and getting the expected question, “Where are you going?”. When I would share that I was going to be running my own photography business I received many well wishes and congratulations, a few “good for you”, and the occasional “yes, get out while you can” responses. No matter the response I got, the expression seemed to be the same on most faces, “What are you thinking?”. Now, don’t get me wrong, I know everyone did mean what they said but I also understand the puzzled looks on their faces. To be honest, if someone had come to me a few years ago and said they were leaving their regular, routine, safe, normal 9-5 job to go into business for themselves, I would have looked at them the same way. Very responsibly, it has been instilled in me from a young age, that working a job or having a profession that is reliable and traditional is the most sensible choice to make as an adult. I understand why this is thought to be “the right choice”, for a very long time it seems to have been one of the only choices. Going into business on your own is a scary thought. All the responsibility falls on you. You could run yourself in circles with all the “what if” internal dialogue ! In some ways it seems a little too confident to assume that you will be successful as an entrepreneur. I mean really, who do you think you are?! Well…..I’ll tell you.

I was born and raised in Virginia Beach. I grew up attending public school in the Kempsville area and even started my freshman year at Old Dominion University. At the same time I met my now husband of 16 years, David. Growing up my family attended a church and was very active within our church community. I was baptized and confirmed within the Episcopal church. I loved my experiences in that church and was even married and had our only daughter baptized there as an infant. I wouldn’t change any of it. But, in the last 13 years I have come to learn and know more in my relationship with Christ. I would never say that I was “lost”. David and I discussed our faith and beliefs even in the very beginning of our relationship. We were both raised as Christians. What I lacked for a long time was the knowledge that I was created with a specific purpose in mind. I was placed on this earth, in this family, in my community, for a reason. I’ll be honest, I’m not awesome at predicting the future. But I can absolutely look over my past and point to specific places where God was telling me, showing me, what I was meant to do now. There was a reason I was obsessed with taking pictures and having them printed only to ogle over them for hours. There was a reason I had fantasies of opening a cupcake shoppe in my early 20’s. There was a reason I would spend hours scrapbooking our family photos and even brainstormed a potential business to create scrapbooks for others. These reasons may seem naive and small to you but to me they are a road map that got me to this place. Taking photographs is one thing, all on its own. Owning your own business? It’s a step out in faith. It is a public declaration that says, “I know this may seem crazy, or irresponsible even, but the peace that I can find in God making this decision tells me it’s right.”

I’m so thankful for my past experiences. I’m glad that I was able to gain the business knowledge and experience from my prior profession. I’m grateful for the family and community that is supporting me in this season and that I know I can continue to depend on as my story continues. I’m hopeful that everything I do within this business will make an impact on the people I meet.