When my dad passed away, I felt that my life had shifted and I knew in my heart that it was time to make a career change. I'd been thinking about it for a long time, but to be honest, I didn't know exactly what I would do. I've worked since I was 15. I've never NOT had a job. But I knew that it was time for something different than a 9-5 job.
At the same time, my kids are at the age where we are looking at the end of school days within the next two years. It is hard to believe that we potentially only have another year and a half of our family of five and the school-year routines that we’ve gotten used to. One kid has a job, the others are looking and between friends, sports and school, I am starting to feel a sense of quiet panic creep up because I know that change is coming very soon.
When I first thought about transitioning my photography from a hobby to a paid gig, I didn’t have much focus and started off doing a few family shoots and headshots. While I was happy to do them, I really didn’t feel a huge amount of passion with these sessions. It also seemed that there are quite a few people in the area doing this kind of photography and doing it really well (self-doubt creeping in!)
What I was passionate about was getting out with my camera to photograph my kids’ games. With an open schedule, I was also available to drive to tournaments, giving me even more time on the sidelines with my camera.
I started sharing a few photos of other people’s kids, but when I realized how much time I was spending forwarding photos, I decided it was time to take my photography from hobby to a more serious level. I invested in a platform that would allow me to build a website and offer galleries of each of the games I was photographing.
While speaking to a friend about business and the potential of jumping into photography more seriously, I realized mid-chat, that what I really wanted to do is to focus on teen photography. So that is what I did!
I photograph what I love, which is teens and young adults doing amazing things. Whether it is a sport, a hobby, or performing on stage, or just hanging out with their friends on a beautiful day.
It is tough work starting a small business, but I am feeling the love and support from South Delta and beyond and I am so excited about this new chapter in my life.
