From Here to There
I remember driving 3 hours to buy a Canon t3i for $300 back in 2013. I was a senior in high school and it was just about all the money I had from my little job working at Kohl's. I remember thinking "Oh, this is going to be fun." Boy, did I have no idea.
I've worked just about every job you can think of. From working at a tanning salon, a frozen yogurt shop, being an overnight senior caretaker, to most recently a social media coordinator/content creator. While this path has always been interesting, it hasn't always been fun. But let's be honest, what job always is? Through these years of trying to find myself, where I belonged, and what I loved to do, I always had the "hobby" of photography. Senior pictures for friends here, family photos for friends there. It was always a side-gig that I loved to do, but it was just that, a side-gig. When people told me I was good at it my response was always, " Yeah, I would love for it to be my job one day." It was just never a possibility. I always had to tell it "no."
Flash forward to 2019. I have a full-time day job, getting married in about a month to the man of my dreams. Living in a cute two bedroom apartment by myself. I had a rough day at work and was venting to Markus about it. He then asked, " Why don't you just do photography full-time?" I had started photographing wedding at the start of 2019 and had a lot of interest for the coming year. I paused and felt a rush of emotions. The excitement of opportunity, the fear of not having enough, and everything in between. It scared the living crap out of me, even though I had been wanting it for years. We talked about it a few more times after that, but I never felt "ready". We got married that October, and continued on with our newlywed life. We had settled on, " Let's see how 2020 goes, and then we will make a choice at the end of the year."
Well, we all know how 2020 went. There's too much to be said, but you get it. Long story short, we are so grateful that we didn't make that head first dive into me working full time in photography. That "No" was a huge blessing. Our lives would have looked a whole lot different. We ended up getting a puppy, signing on a house, and finding out we were expecting our first child all within 3 months! So I worked my full time job at an incredible company, grew our beautiful daughter inside of me, and continued to shoot weddings. There were some weekends that I almost lost my head, but we did it. We had Gianna February of 2021 and had a fully booked calendar for weddings for the rest of the year.
Flash forward to today. May 14th, 2021. My last day at my full-time day job. Where officially on May 17th, 2021, I will be a full-time photographer. I have said " No, not yet." so many times to my dream of doing this. There have been so many things where the timing just wasn't quite "right."I've had to turn down clients and opportunities due to working full-time and it's broken my heart. I've had encouragement from so many friends in the industry saying, "Lindsay, you can do it!" and the loving hugs from Markus always pushing me to follow my heart. And I can say today, that we are doing the damn thing. The beautiful thing is that this didn't just happen in a day. It's been years of working, deciding, and clicking a shutter button over and over. Every good, and bad for that matter, picture I have taken has brought me to this point. Every client I've ever had has brought me here. Every time I put my camera down and said " I'm never touching you again." has brought me here. Somehow those "no's" were all perfectly timed for me to finally say " yes." There was never a choice I made, that didn't clear the path for this place. And now, this dream is giving me more than I could have imagined.
It's giving me the freedom to be at home with my daughter more, and raise her and watch her hit milestones. It's giving me the freedom to travel, express myself, and make the greatest friends. It's giving me an income to support my family and provide food on the table and clothes for their backs. This "hobby" makes me happier than any job I've ever worked, and now I can finally give it the attention it deserves. I'm scared, excited, and anxious all in one, but I know I've prepared myself for this moment. Working various jobs has given me experiences with so many situations and people, and has truly prepared me for this. As I close this chapter of my book, and turn the page, I can't wait to see what we have ahead.
Thank you to everyone who has encouraged me, loved me, and pushed me to get here. I wouldn't be here without you. How did I get from there to here? Sometimes the individual choices we have to make are disappointing, hard to do, and can just flat out suck. BUT, the series of choices as a whole can lead to something so beautiful and something you've been dreaming of for years.
Let's do this.