The Origin

Taking pictures has always been a huge part of my life. When I got into high school, my mom bought me my first point and shoot camera, and I then became obsessed with taking pictures. For me, pictures were so important. If I didn't take pictures, I felt as though I was going to forget. Forget what everyone looked like, forget what we did; forget us. I look back to the thousands of pictures I took in high school, and I am so grateful that I took as many as I did. Even though the quality of pictures was bad, and I annoyed every one of my friends in the process, I managed to do what I sought out to do; to capture the essence of our lives. All the highs were there. All the lows were there. All the spontaneous nights, midnight drives, sleepovers, band rehearsals: its all there for us to see. You can see it in the pictures- our high school years, protected and forever immortalized in the pictures.

It is that fierce need to document and capture life in photographs that really drove me to become good at what I loved to do. I began to realize that as much as I loved to document my own life and my own adventures, sometimes I needed to just live it. I spent way more time documenting each experience than I did actually experiencing it, and it took me a few adventures robbed from me to realize that I needed to put the camera down. But I so wished that I had some random person tailing me and taking all the pictures so I could still have them and the experience all at the same time.

I began to become interested in taking pictures of other people's lives. If something interesting was happening to someone I knew, I would grab my camera and document the whole thing, and then give them a CD with the photos on it. They would thank me, saying that they were so happy with the pictures, and that is when I began to think about potentially becoming an actual photographer.

I bought my DSLR because my point and shoot finally gave out. (Poor thing, it lived a long and active life.) I bought it used off a photography buddy of mine, and my obsession blossomed into full on crazy. I couldn't put it down. Day one of owning it I took it to Guatemala and shot about 500 pictures. I loved it. And as soon as I began to understand the basics of how it worked, and I saw the quality difference in the pictures, I wanted to become good at it. I knew, then and there, I wanted to take this somewhere.

Self doubt held me back for a long time. Now that I understood some components of actual photography, I realized how much I didn't know. Suddenly, I just felt limited by not knowing what white balance was, or what a proper photo composition was, or how to edit like a pro. I was, and still am, my own worst critic, and I truly didn't think that my pictures were good enough. I knew nothing of how to run a small business, or marketing, or web design. I felt inadequate and hid behind my lack of knowledge and equipment for a while. However, in due time I realized that the only way I'm going to get better, is to try, fail, and get better. So this summer, I dove in, head first. I still have a ton to learn, but I'm practicing and learning new things daily.

I have no idea how this photography business adventure will end up. It could flourish and be very successful, if I am wise enough to never stop learning and always push myself. Or it could not, and that is okay. What I am about is capturing life. I will do it as a pro, or I will do it just for fun. Regardless, this is what I am passionate about, and why I do what I do. I want to be able to look back and have the pictures tell me the story of my life, and the story of the lives of those I take pictures of. That's what I am all about!

-Kristen