In October of 2013, I discovered Hannah Elise’s blog. I remember falling in love with how she made even the simplest things beautiful. I found a lot of other wedding photographers through her blog and automatically knew I wanted to do wedding photography someday.
Two months later I got the Nikon Coolpix L320 for Christmas. It was a very small basic Nikon camera, but I felt so cool that I got a professional camera, or so I thought. I would take it everywhere to take photos at family events, including a family member’s wedding.
That summer I bought the Nikon D3200. It was on sale at Target, and my parents loaned me the money on the condition I would pay them back for it. I could instantly tell the difference in my photos.
I started my first private blog in the fall. It was called Photography 4 Jesus and had ten followers. My parents didn’t want me to have any social media or share things on the internet so I practiced with my private blog. I tried to blog consistently and treated it like it was legit.
I kept taking photos for the next two years of nature, and photos of my sisters for fun. My church hosted a photography class for four weeks, and through that I learned how to shoot in manual. I remember being the youngest one in the class as most of the people who attended were older people in their fifties or sixties wanting to learn how to take a good photo with their fancy camera.
I continued to be a faithful follower of Hannah Elise Photography’s work. I stalked her blog and social media for about three years, eager to soak up any new information I could learn from her. When she decided to host another internship in August of 2016, I knew I had to go. I was working part time in my church’s nursery for eight dollars an hour, and selling my guitar and other things to save up enough money to attend. I almost screamed when I found out I was accepted and going to learn from Hannah.
At Hannah’s internship I was able to take photos of different models every night, we had classroom time where we learned more about different topics like camera settings and editing, talked with Hannah one on one about photography, got my first headshots, made new friends, thrifted, drank lots of coffee and tea, etc. I had such an amazing time with so many sweet people.
A year later I was still finishing up my senior year of high school, working two part time jobs, and taking photos all the time. I saved all the money I made working to pay for my photography equipment. I actually graduated high school six months early so I could start my photography business and build my portfolio.
I worked retail full time in 2018 for the next five years. As I worked full time, I would spend my weekends doing photography. I third shot my first wedding in June 2018 with Katie Lindgren and got to help her with two weddings. I mostly shadowed and took photos with her and her second shooter.
The next year I offered free photo sessions and second shot with photographers for free. It didn’t feel like working, it was so fun! My first paid second shooting gig I got paid $180. I kept learning from lots of different photographers after my first wedding and would meet up with them to ask questions about photography.
In 2019 I began serving on the media team at church. Later that year I actually was able to take photos for different college church ministries I would attend. I also upgraded to a full frame camera-the Nikon D850 and added the 85 mm 1.4 and 70-200 mm 2.8 lens to my gear.
My first paid photo session was in November. It was for a family friend, and I offered to do photos for them for free, but he still paid me $60. I will never forget the people who believed in me and my business from the beginning.
Earlier that year, my sister introduced me to a friend from church and told her that I was a wedding photographer. I freaked out because I had never shot a wedding on my own and didn’t feel equipped for that. Her friend willingly trusted me to shoot her big day!
June 6, 2020 was my first wedding I shot on my own! The wedding was booked about two weeks before they got married since they weren’t sure if they would have a photographer with covid and social distancing rules. I charged $650, and my boyfriend at the time was my assistant. It was such a beautiful moment to be living out my answered prayers. I like to think I’ve improved a bit since then!
The following months I started booking senior sessions, maternity sessions, and family photos for friends and family. In 2021 I booked my second wedding, and 2022 was my third wedding on my own after I switched to a mirrorless camera.
In October of 2022, I felt God call me to go full time in my photography business. I had dreamed of this day for so long and was so terrified when I knew it meant giving up my full time retail job. I liked my routine and what I was used to, but had been feeling restless there for the past two years. I knew I wanted more, but wasn’t ready to let go yet. That night at church, I knew I was supposed to leave to pursue my business full time. I prayed about it for a week, and God confirmed it the next weekend at church. I quit working retail, and made my business legit when I got my LLC! It hasn’t been easy, but going full time in my business has been one of the hardest and best things I’ve ever done for myself. If you trust God, He will provide and be faithful to equip you with what you need to carry out His calling for your life.