I'm that mom who takes hundreds if not MILLIONS of photos of her own children. It started out with my son, Manolo, who is now 2 1/2. He was literally the happiest baby I had ever met. He always had this huge goofy smile. It's one of those smiles that just melt your heart and light up your world. Parents, you know what I mean! If you have ever have the pleasure of meeting my son then you know exactly what I mean. It's kind of ironic though because he was clinically diagnosed with autism a month after he turned 2. Usually children with autism have a hard time looking at you directly in the eyes, and one of the first I guess "signs" is not looking at people's faces when speaking nor smiling as a baby. I never had that problem with Manolo. In fact, he always looked right at me and gave me the biggest smile! I loved that about him. But it was on his own accord. You couldn't say his name and expect him to turn towards you. We thought it was a hearing problem, but as he got older more and more signs started to show. I'll probably write a separate blog post on that. Anyways, since Manolo was such a happy-smiley baby, I just started taking photos. I mean, he's pretty stinkin' cute if I do say so myself. I realized I had a little too much fun so decided to purchase my first "professional" camera about a year ago. Oh man, I was taking pictures of EVERYTHING! I probably have hundreds of photos of my cats alone.
Then I thought to myself, why not teach myself to edit? I am so lucky to know such wonderful photography friends in my life. That's the funny thing about life, you meet people in the most unexpected ways! One of my friends I had actually met in an online pregnancy support group. She probably knows more about Manolo then most people because I was talking about him waaaaaay before he was even born! Anyways, she owns her own photography business, and she was gracious enough to answer all of my beginner photography questions such as what camera to use, what lens, what editing programs and so on! Being in the age of the YouTube generation, I just taught myself to edit through YouTube! Just like I taught myself to sew- hah- that's another blog post for another day! There are so many great videos out there from amazing people. If I wasn't catching on or following what they were saying, I looked up more basic videos or videos from different people. Trust me- there is a tutorial out there for everyone! I actually LOVE editing. I'm not saying I'm amazing at it by an means- you should see all of my Photoshop flops (hah!)
I don't know if that makes me crazy or not, but I just love that you can change the whole mood of a picture with just a few clicks of a button. I'm constantly learning new ways of doing things to improve the quality of my photos and to release my creative energy.
For the first time in a LONG time I found something that I thoroughly enjoy doing! I didn't plan on learning photography or editing programs because I wanted to open my own business. I simply wanted to do it to capture every special moment in my life. I enjoy it so much that I decided to open this business so that I can capture it for others. I mean how many times do you go through the photos on your phone? How many times do you say, Man, I wish I had gotten photos of that. Granted, it wasn't an overnight decision. It took A LOT of prodding and support from my husband and friends.
I'm not a very social person. I know that some people find that hard to believe, but it's a little hard for me to meet people at first. I get anxiety..BAD. Believe it or not, I do have a best friend that has stuck it out with me even if we don't talk a lot (hi, Halee!). I also honestly never thought I was good enough, and there are moments that I still don't. I know that sounds weird, but I think it's hard for us to admit as human beings when we are good at something. It's so easy to be negative. I still think I am a beginner, but I hope that the pictures that I do capture right now for others truly captures moments that people can cherish forever like I do every time I take a photo of my Manolo and now baby girl, Ellie. Thank you all for supporting me- you have no idea how much I truly appreciate it!
