THE Leap | Inspiration | Creativity
First off, I wanted to say a huge thank you to all of you who have been following my photography journey from the beginning.
I wanted to take a minute to share a little recap of my journey that led me to take the leap and make something that I love into my career which can be so scary but yet so rewarding. I’m hoping this series of sharing my experiences will inspire, encourage and challenge you to take a leap in your life whatever it may be.
People often ask me why photography. Growing up I had enjoyed taking photos but it wasn’t a crazy passion for the art side of it, it was always about capturing the memories and moments. I remember pulling out photo albums and having my parents and grandparents share stories about different photos of many people and places that I didn’t even know but the way they told their stories the emotions and beauty of the photo came to life. I always have loved how photos freeze moments in time and through those moments you can relive and remember the whole story.
In 2009 I graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a Bachelor in Education. My husband had gifted me my very first DSLR, Nikon D60. I was so excited to start capturing those memories with a legit camera or what I thought was legit at the time. I began by capturing friends, family members and connections through that. It was such a great learning experience. I started with mostly family sessions and branched into doing maternity and newborns for friends and then got my first wedding for a friends brother and from there I realized how much I loved capturing peoples milestones.
(Photos below all taken between 2012-2014)
Looking back I realized that I didn’t quite know what my end goal was and still don’t know fully. But I knew that I loved it and would continue doing it alongside my job as a teacher. But as my job continued as a teacher I began to think of how I could spend more time at home with my kids once they came into our lives. I started really diving into photography, beginning to pursue some education and workshops to help improve my work and knowledge.
Once we brought home our son, S, in 2013 I really tried to keep my camera accessible. I found that was the only way I was going to learn how to improve and practice new skills. It seemed easier now that I had an adorable subject. I began immersing myself in a business idea. Branding, business name, registering my business, creating a website, shooting content. It all was making sense...until I went back to work. Then it seemed overwhelming again. I dreamed of taking the leap and doing full time photography to be able to work from home, spend my days with my son but it was very tough to leave a stable, permanent job to leap into the unknown. Little did we know that soon we were going to be forced to do just that!
(Photos below from 2013 when we met and brought home our son)
A few months after we brought home our daughter in 2016 my husband was flying on a 1 way ticket to Halifax to begin a crazy yet exciting adventure of studying architecture and beginning his path to a new career- one that he had also always dreamed about. I was still on parental leave at the time from my teaching job so I enjoyed it, tossing the idea around about beginning my full time business out here as well as crunching the numbers about going back to work full time to see which one would make most sense. Staying home, beginning and running my own dream business and being with my kids and more accessible to them won and I am so glad it did. It has not been easy and there are definitely some things that I miss about having the stability but the time with my family is irreplaceable.
(Photos below from 2016 when we met and brought home our daughter)
So now, 4 years later, the endless hours of connecting, working, rebranding, rebranding again, creating a brand new website, marketing, emails, social media, time management have all been worth it to chase after my dream. Dream of capturing stories with all the emotions and feels that are apart of them. From shooting weddings to families to newborns and maternity to branding and lifestyle portraits. I love capturing the stories of life wherever that may find you.
I believe that a beautiful organic single frozen moment can help you relive an entire experience. I aim to capture just that, an experience.
If you are an entrepreneur or someone who is dreaming about taking the plunge I want to say there is never the perfect time to do it. You will always have reasons why it won’t work in the moments you think of it. But if you don’t try it will actually never happen. Yes, there are things that need to be in place and of course you need to be able to meet all your basic needs but if you don’t try you won’t ever know.
(Photos below from 2019)
So this is how I got to be where I am. I am not sure if I took a leap or if I was pushed into taking that leap but either way I am so very thankful for what the leap has allowed me to do!
I would love to “meet” you and if you have questions or want to chat about perspective, questions, wonderings please drop down below to leave a comment or shoot me an email! I am so passionate about finding community and working together to lift up fellow business owners!
I am so happy you are here and I hope you will feel encouraged and inspired!