My life really began at 16. For many people they say their life started at 26,27,28,ect when you typically get married, buy a home and perhaps start a family. I did all this at 16. My life took a different turn than what I had expected one early May morning when I should have been at my first class, but instead I was staring at a pregnancy test with weak knees as the two lines stared right back at me.
Those nine months were a whirlwind of ups and downs. I gathered the courage to tell my parents that their teenage daughter was pregnant, I finished high school through correspondence(2 years ahead of schedule), I married my wonderful husband, we bought a home and welcomed our little baby girl just 1 month shy of my 17th birthday.
The first four years were very hard, I’m not gonna lie. My husband and I were growing up. We were growing up together, and sometimes apart. We were both going to college, raising our daughter, working full time, and just the stress of everyday life was sometimes overwhelming. But it only seems this way when I look back on it. At the time I felt like I had it all, because basically I did. I learned so much about myself those first four years that I would never trade them for anything. I found out I was much braver, stronger, smarter, loving, stubborn, and hard-working than I thought. My confidence grew and grew and so my outlook to tackle more things grew as well.
My husband joined the Air Force and we moved to California. We spent another four years out their and welcomed our son during that time. We had no real family or friends out there so we were basically all by ourselves. We grew together, all four of us, so close as a family. We had no real outside influences. It was our time to grow together, just us, and I am so thankful that.
Now we are back home in Michigan. Which if we hadn’t moved back to Michigan, we may of had not welcomed the newest addition Ava Marley Mae into our family. And a crazy idea with a friend of mine bloomed into a new love of photography may of not happened. You just never know where life will take you.
My husband and I just celebrated our ten year wedding anniversary. We have three beautiful children together. Each and every step in the journey to come to this point is in no way where I thought I’d be. But in all honesty I threw out plans years ago, and all I do is live in the moment.
I hope my photography/story inspires other photographers to throw out all those negative feelings that may hold them back. Don’t be scared. If I was scared of the “what ifs” all throughout my life, look at all the wonderful things I would be giving up.While I have not been into photography long I think my story reflects the kind of person I am and I hope that shines through in my photographs.
I took a fairly big step diving into the world of Boudoir Photography. No other photographer really around my area does this so at first I thought there might be some negative feelings from others about it. But I believed in it more than my fear about it. Does that make sense? =)
My favorite quote
“Do not follow where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail” -Ralph Waldo Emerson.
I hope
* You are your biggest cheerleader. You have to believe in yourself for others to follow suit. So go ahead and toot your own horn.
*Don’t be scared if you had a vision for your photography, but as you learn and grow your ideas morph into another
*Do connect with each one of your clients. Treat them as you would a friend, and more than likely they will become one.
*Don’t be afraid to be yourself. Your client hired you for you and your photography, so why try to be someone and shoot like someone your not.
*Take pictures that reflect your client. And then add a little of your style in the mix.
*Connect with other photographers. I love making new friendships.
*Love what you do, and do what you love. period.
Encourage one another-
-Kelly
