It all began with an ad for a Canon rebel on Craigslist. I always wanted a “real” camera to take pictures of our dogs and eventually of our kids. It was only $600 for the camera and 2 lenses, perfect! I made the drive to Holland to pick up my new camera, that was in August of 2008. I started taking pictures of the flowers in my yard, Charlie’s triathlon races and my dogs. Of course all of this was on the auto mode, I had no idea what I was doing. I would read the manual, make notes and try to make my pictures look like… well good!
I had always been in love with weddings. I used to scour the wedding magazines at the check out lane at the grocery store, dreaming the of day I would wear a puffy sleeved dress. Hey it was the 80s! So when our friends Carly & Garry got engaged I jumped at the chance to practice taking engagement pictures of them. Still in manual mode and with my pop up flash we headed out to the woods for their session. I knew nothing about lightening, posing or anything. I just did what I thought looked good. I loved how the pictures turned out and I received tons of compliments on them (I cringe now). Without another thought I applied for an LLC and started my business. That was November 2008, a mere 3 months after getting my first DSLR. I like to say I jumped in the pool head first, not even looking to see if there was water in it.
After this first session I offered free engagement sessions on The Knot’s Grand Rapids board (I used to be on the boards when I was planning my wedding). I did a few more engagement sessions and I was hooked. I booked my first wedding in March 2009 for later that summer. I kept telling Maren (the bride), you know I’ve never photographed a wedding before, right? But she liked what she saw and trusted me. I booked a total of 6 weddings that first summer, I couldn’t believe it!
Three years later here I am amazed at how far I have come. Since starting my business I’ve been published in five magazines (Shore Bride Magazine, Grand Rapids Bride Magazine, Kalamazoo Bride Magazine, Claudia Noivas and The Knot Michigan), featured on Style me Pretty and Shore Bride Magazine blogs and my work has been used by other vendors for their advertising! I never could have imagined three years ago when I answered that ad on Craigslist that my life would turn out the way it has. I am so grateful and feel so blessed to have photographed some of the most important moments in people’s lives. Thank you to all of my clients for your patience, support, love, trust and constant encouragement. I hope this is just the beginning of an amazing journey.
Oh and to show you just how far I have come these last few years, below is a picture of Carly & Garry from the very first engagement session I have ever done. I was all about over saturation and lots of contrast, hey I was using Picasa to edit, what did I know!
Carly & Garry, November 2008
Then….. and Now……
Sarah & Marc, November 2011
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