Open Doors

Well, I’m doing it. I’m starting my own blog to detail the evolution of my photography hobby becoming my photography business. One of the toughest things to do when God starts opening doors is to walk through them without a clear picture of what’s on the other side. But that is what I’m trying to do – walk by faith and not by sight.

 I have always enjoyed dabbling with various creative outlets and photography has been something that I’ve really become passionate about over the past year. So much so that back in September 2007 we made a really big investment and purchased some professional gear (camera body and a few lenses). I’ve also had the opportunity to attend some really great workshops with other professional photographers and have tried to soak up as much knowledge as possible.  Any knowledge I acquire however will never match my passion for capturing special moments with my camera. This passion began as a very selfish endeavor to simply capture and preserve all of the wonderful and precious memories that we are making every day with our three kids. And not just the “perfect”, posed moments either. But every single nuance of who they are, what they are doing and what they look like at a particular moment in time. Because as I’ve learned through my experience with my own kids, they change so quickly and there are just some things that I never want to forget.

 Well, to make a long story not as long as it could be, I’ve had the opportunity to use my passion in helping other families capture some precious moments of their own. And, based on some of that “work”, I had the opportunity at my MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meeting to talk a little bit about my passion for photography and desire to begin extending that passion, and expanding my portfolio, to include other families. The net result is that I had 11 different moms sign up to have me do photo shoots for them. YIKES! This is so scary and exciting at the same time. I’m excited about the opportunity to continue perfecting my skills as a photographer and providing these families with a wonderful photo shoot experience that gives them some wonderful photos to grace their homes. But I’m also scared about the potential of this becoming an actual “business”.

 If you think of it, will you please join with me in prayer that I will submit all these things to God and just focus on using the gifts that He has given me to enjoy and bless others with. And, if this does snowball into a “business” that it would be built on the foundation of God’s will (Psalm 127:1). 

Thanks, everybody! Check back here over the next few weeks and I’ll post some photos from the sessions for you to see. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed at the top of the page to automatically receive new posts when I add them.

In the meantime, following are some shots I took of my friend Kari’s daughter back in November 2007. This was the first time I shot someone outside of our own family. Ava is three years old and was a real trooper in letting me photograph her. Isn’t she beautiful!