My journey down the road to finding out who I really am as a photographer has been a long one… 10 long years to be exact. 10 years of education and classes and mentors and pinning… Oh, the pinning! And the props! And the equipment! And let’s not forget the most daunting piece… the computer programs. I’ve had a 10 year love hate relationship with my good friend Photoshop. But through out all of these trials, the all night editing marathons, the money spent, the feelings of failure, one thing has remained the same… I LOVE MY JOB. Period. Wild horses couldn’t drag me away from this profession. Ask my husband, I’m sure there have been moments where he considered it. You may think, at this point, this sounds like a pretty tough job to love, and on many days, you would be correct. But at the end of the day, no matter the session, the result is always the same… I get to present someone with not only beautiful images, but memories of those that they love the most. I get to spend my days with awesome people and share in some of the most important times in their lives. Sometimes when I am editing, it’s all I can do to not start texting my clients screen shots of their amazing families. To feel that level of excitement to finish a “job” makes all the madness in between totally worth it.
To know WHY I do what I do is easy. But to keep sane in this industry, you really have to know who you are as an artist. Feeling confident in who you are and believing in everything that you are putting out into the world. Remember the pinning that I mentioned earlier? Writing this post and thinking back now, I could say that Pinterest could be one of the biggest road blocks on my way to self discovery. Sure, there are a MILLION images out there that I love, so many photographers to admire and a new beautiful style of shooting and editing every where I turned. I changed my mind weekly on what kind of props I needed, was I going to be natural light or studio light, colorful or neutral, moody edits or light and airy… I’ve tried them all. And was never satisfied. Just when I had settled for the way I thought I was going to do things and what I thought would work… something life changing happened. Heidi Hope was looking for a newborn photographer. Heidi Hope. Someone whose work I had been following for years. A name in our industry that is known for her life changing teaching styles and incredible artistry. As much as I admired her, her work was the complete opposite of what I had settled on for myself. Her style is natural light, I was trying to master studio light. Her work is whimsical and colorful and bright, I was ditching all the frills and going for neutral and simple. I wasn’t sure that I’d fit in at her studio, and in the beginning, my confidence was not high.
But Heidi’s confidence in me and the lessons that she taught me have completely changed who I am as a photographer. The excitement that I get from putting together a creative session is something I never had before. Brainstorming with her to come up with new ideas and themes and different ways of creating art has been the most fun I have ever had at “work”! And now, here I am. Putting together a website full of images that I can’t believe that I took. Feeling confident and proud in who I am as an artist. And beyond excited to continue my photography journey as a Heidi Hope Design Partner.
~xo, Sarah
