This Easter felt so much like Thanksgiving. I’m sure you’re saying “what?”. I mean it in the sense that this Easter has reminded me of how thankful I am for my family & my business. I say it is a mixed blessing because I do miss my friends from my old job & sometimes miss the consistent paycheck, but on the other hand, I am so much happier doing what I love. If you’ve visited my “About Me” page on my website, you’ll know that I have always loved photography. I started shooting when I was 11, after I had received my first camera as a Christmas gift from one of my aunts. It definitely opened a new world for me.
In 2000, I decided that I wanted to do something for me that I would enjoy & could make a living at. I’m not sure why photography never entered my mind until then, but I’m glad it did. If I had to hypothesize why it never occurred to me, I think it’s because I, like many people, have been conditioned to go to college & get a job working for someone else. At any rate, I started attending the Art Institute of Atlanta to learn more about photography while I was still working my full-time job. I owe a lot to my former manager Tony. He was so helpful & supportive of me. He allowed me to leave in the middle of the day for about an hour or 2, a few days a week so that I could attend class. He told me as long as I got my work done, I could attend my class. My experience at the Art Institute was a wonderful one. I met some great people & actually learned how to develop my own film & prints. Now how cool is that?
Once I found my true calling I was all in. I started working in photography part-time on the weekends. I shot portraits & weddings (reluctantly) on the weekends & started getting my name out there. In 2004 I got pregnant. Pregnancy tends to change things, but fortunately not in a negative way. I had my son in 2005 & that’s when my husband & I talked about me leaving my job in early 2006. I wanted to be home for my son, plus really work on my photography business. To make a long story short, I got laid off in 2005, a few months after returning back from maternity leave. Yes, it does sound suspicious, but it’s really not. Either way, I am very happy with the way things turned out. Not only was I set free from my job sooner than I thought, but I also got paid severance for it! Woooohoooo! In addition to that, my old company contracted me to do some consulting in England…..twice! That was truly a blessing & I was very grateful for that experience as well.
Well now you know about my rise to having my own business in a nutshell, whether you wanted to know or not. :-) Attached are a few images that I took while I was in London.
