Saturday, May 28, 2011

My start in photography . . .

So it dawned on me this morning (no pun intended) that no where on my site or blog do I have info about how I got into photography. And since I've been doing so many wedding consults lately, its pretty important for people know.

Ok . . . here goes . . .

I started photography when I was 17 working at JCPenny Portrait Studio. One of my friends helped me get the job and I LOVED it!!! I really did. After 2 or so years of that I switched over to Sears Portrait Studio and hated it. Not so much the picture taking aspect of it, but that there were a few women who worked there who had been working there for years and they were set in their ways. Seriously. They were not open to improvising or new poses or ideas. Basically they wanted to do the same old posed, boring pictures that they had been doing for the past 10 years and didn't want to evolve. So it didn't so much work out there.

That brings me to age 20. What happened then? Oh yeah, I got married. Young. I know. But as some of you may know, I grew up really fast from age 17 on. So I like to think that I was actually more mature than my 25 year old fiance. And then at age 21 I was blessed with a baby boy, Madden and then 2 1/2 years later another baby boy, Maxim.

Now through those years of having babies, like any mom, I started taking pictures of them. But UNLIKE any mom, my pictures weren't just snapshots. They looked like a professional had taken them. Some of them were posed, some just candids, but they were fantastic! And people noticed. Friends and family started to ask me to take their children's pictures. And they wanted to pay me . . . BONUS!

So a little over two years ago from now, I started KS Photography. All I did was family and kids. And I started to build clientele. That summer I got asked by family/friends to do a couple small weddings and around fall that year I raise my prices and thought I would go to hell for doing it! lol And the clientele actually grew and grew and pretty soon I had a great following that is still growing today.

So that is how it began. I didn't go to school for photography. I just did it! I'm lucky to be able to work out of my home and make my own schedule. Its really great for me and especially for my, now THREE boys, that mom gets to stay home with them! Which is a huge reason I am able to keep my fees so reasonable. I have barely any overhead costs. I don't pay rent or a mortgage on a studio. Which then means, I don't have to pay bills on a studio either. Other than the wear and tear on my camera, the discs, labels and packaging, I have no extra costs.

Maybe someday I'll have a studio. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have one and it would make life much easier, especially in the winter. I have been looking a little, but you never know what the future might bring.

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