I have been reminiscing back to my college days quite often recently. I don’t know what it is but I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about when this business was just a little dream. The truth is, I was never the girl that “always dreamed of being a photographer” when she grew up. I wanted to be creative and I wanted to love my job and I wanted to have freedom. Well, 6 years later, I’m living that dream and there are some days when I don’t believe it’s true. Sometimes I have people ask me, “Did you ever imagine your business would turn into what it is today?” and my answer is normally “No way!”. However, the more I think back to my first year of shooting,
the more I remember having this little inkling of hope from the very beginning. I hoped for success…. I dreamed of teaching one day…. I dreamed of producing images that gave me goosebumps. There was something within me that truly believed that I could do this. Sometimes that feeling was stronger than other times… but no matter what, it was always there. It was almost as if I had naive expectations of what could potentially happen with my business. The things I dreamed of were not likely and they were borderline impossible when you look at the success rate of most small businesses. However, I really believe that being naive to high possibility of failure is what pushed me forward so quickly. I honestly think I am more nervous and fearful before weddings now than I was when I first started!!
When I first started, I was unaware of the pressure, the expectations and the overall stress of wedding photography. I was just so excited to be SHOOTING A WEDDING!!!! There are some days when I miss being naive. Sometimes I wish I could revert back to that new, 20 year old photographer that was so inspired by absolutely everything!! Don’t get my wrong, I’m still inspired and LOVE my job… but there was something so wonderful about that first year! So for all of you new photographers out there that are just getting started, as weird as it sounds, I hope that there is a little part of you that is naive enough to allow you to dream BIG dreams. I don’t want you to make major mistakes… but I also don’t want you to become so overwhelmed with fear that you don’t grow. There has to be a balance there!! This weekend I don’t have a wedding and I’m going to enjoy taking a break! For those that are shooting this weekend, I wish you the best! Have fun, enjoy your job and try new things!! Happy Friday!
Thanks for reading!
— Katelyn
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