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While some people may remember 2020 as a year better forgotten, for me 2020 was the year to celebrate the birth of my third baby and the year I decided to launch into a new endeavour.
A photography and content creation business.
Now, I didn’t just get a camera for Christmas and suddenly I decide to become a ‘professional photographer’.
I have 15 years of being a professional creative under my belt. Although my experience lends itself more to a long running history of broadcast television, I have been a ‘hobbyist’ photographer for a decade already.
I have put in the hard work to learn, sometimes by trial and error – the ins and outs of manual shooting. I know how to use natural light and coupled with a God given creative eye for composition, I was working at a ‘professional’ level of photography long before I launched a ‘professional’ business. I struggle with ‘professional photographers’ who haven’t put in the work to be able to serve their clientele with the images they deserve before they start charging people money.
Sometimes I wish I could be like other women. My best friend, Kelly, has the ability to revel in the everyday life of motherhood. She raves about the fun walks and adventures she has with her littlies. It’s not that I don’t love my kids. My family is my number one priority AND they are growing too fast…
… However, I have ALWAYS needed to grow too. I need an outlet for personal achievement to keep me motivated. I could too easily shrivel into a little old lady, crazy and rocking in a dark corner.
So in a crazy year, when my extremely extroverted personality was told to stay home and a ‘do not socialize’ order was mandated – what’s a stay at home mum to do?
For me? It was time for an upgrade.
Upgrade my equipment.
Upgrade my skills.
Upgrade and elevate how I was using my time.
I cancelled Netflix. I stopped checking the pandemic news every 5 minutes, reading medical articles and checking stats around the world. I stopped worrying about being pregnant and vulnerable.
I started researching. I started learning and relearning. Working in a technology based career, being out 5 minutes, let alone 5 years, felt like I was never going to catch up.
I discovered YouTube is no longer just cat videos!
Being a trained video professional – every camera shake, poor audio quality, lack of lighting made me avoid the time suck of YouTube completely … but my search for reviews led me down the rabbit hole to some amazing creatives that have popped up on the platform while I was having babies.
Finally some amazing creatives producing amazing content that I just found inspiring. For example: the boyz club of Toronto – Peter McKinnon, Matti Haapoji and Daniel Schiffer to name a few …
I don’t know what it is about taking time out to be a mum that somehow deflates your entire sense of confidence in your abilities. Like somehow not working full time for only five years (and I have been working freelance creatively this whole time) has disqualified me from being of value.
I have never wanted to enter the overly saturated market of photographers. I don’t want to sell myself or compete against entry level DSLRs set on auto or selfies on iphones … and try to justify my price point to clients when I’m carrying $20k of equipment and 15 years experience in my backpack …
And what about the money? If I invest, will it be worth it for the return or am I going to get fed up and give up after a month?
I did it anyway. I swiped my credit card and put in my pre-order of Canon’s latest mirrorless body – the Canon EOS R5.
It arrived on my 37th birthday. BEST PRESENT EVER.
2 weeks after my son was born, I booked my first client. And I have been running to keep up ever since.
I can’t even believe the success seen in only a few months. I’ve been honoured to gain the trust of so many clients. Families, engagements, weddings and even being recruitment into a commercial contract with a Door Dash to photograph food for restaurants.
You can see all my client galleries since September here.
The beginning of a new decade for me and I have a very good feeling about what life has in store.
