Blog #1: One year later.
One year ago today I went on my first street photography photowalk. Never did I think that walk would change my life. Never did I think that a year from that day I would be introducing you guys to my own photography website. My love for photography started with street and its all I wanted to do, up until August of this year.
My wife and I had our fourth child late January in the mist of this pandemic. Her job informed her she would be working from home indefinitely so we decided it would be best if I took paid family leave to help with the kids. My paid family leave got approved until July and after being home all those months with my family I knew I deserved a job with more flexibility so could continue to spend that time we had become accustomed to spending together. Thats when my wife told me to quit my job and focus on photography full time because she saw my passion for it.
Of course, I wasn’t too keen to this idea as it left me with many doubts, questions and uncertainties, but my wife assured me it would all work out and she would carry my financial duties if need be until things picked up. Seeing how much she believed in me gave me all the motivation to take that leap of faith and go for it. I knew it would be very difficult to pay the bills with the street photography I was doing as its one of the least lucrative genres and I would have to step out of my comfort zone and try other ones. My wife helped me practice shooting portraits by being my model and practice product photography by shooting accessories she owned.
This practice quickly paid off as my first paid gigs were a product shoot and a portrait shoot. These gigs came in the month of July after my wife posted on her social media that I was a photographer for hire, behind my back at that! It happened right around the time I had officially left my job and let me tell you, God is great, because I've been booked consistently for shoots ever since. I’ve been blessed to generate enough income to take care of my share of bills and help provide for our family.
The biggest blessing in this whole journey so far however, has been my wife! I can’t help but think that without her constant motivation, inspiration, help and support I would have never been doing this right now. I would have never tapped into all these other forms of photography i’m doing right now while learning and growing each day. You know they say everyone you meet in life, you meet them for a reason and the reason I met you couldn’t be any clearer. I had to meet you to become the best version of me that I could be and for that I will feel forever indebted to you. THANK YOU!!!
I hope you guys enjoy both, my site and the work I have been putting together on it as I look forward to growing with you all as I expand my portfolio. Thank you to all my clients for trusting me with your photography needs, thank you to all the supporters who share, recommend and/or advertise my work and thank you God for blessing me with the talent and opportunity!!!…I promise the best is yet to come!