I can’t believe I haven’t blogged this yet but I thought I’d sit down tonight and reflect a bit about my photography journey. Like many photographers I know, I began my journey when my daughter was just over a year old. I wanted to better document her milestones– as a baby and toddler she was growing so quickly and I wanted to hold on to those moments and so off to Best Buy for my first dSLR camera – a Nikon D60.
This is where I began my love of all things photography. I think those first couple of years I rarely left the house without the camera. But more and more I was dissatisfied with how the photos were turning out. I had a vision in my mind of how I wanted our families memories to be displayed and they weren’t coming out the way I had hoped. So along the way I found ClickinMoms. This is where I learned a ton. I dove into the tutorials. Took classes, asked questions and learned what makes a good technical photograph.
When I first joined I always had a goal of one day getting to a point in my photography that I could apply to the CMPro program. This past year (2014) I really focused on this goal. I continued to learn how to nail the technicals and pushed myself to ‘break the rules’ to become more creative in my work. Over the summer I created a collection of 150 images and submitted them in September. Seriously, this was one of the most nerve wracking, nail biting times in my life. It was like submitting a piece of my heart to random strangers and hoping they would see what I saw. The wait was tough. But on Thanksgiving Sunday in October I found out that I was accepted into the CMPro program. I was so excited!! And I have to say a huge thank you to my husband, Roelof. He has believed in me from the start. Encouraged me, pushed me, questioned me, put up with me and loved me. He, I think, was just as excited as I was.
I am thankful for reaching this goal and looking back it has been amazing to see where I have been and where I am now. But the story doesn’t end there. I am already setting another goal (and I’ll fill you in soon!) to keep stretching myself, pushing myself artistically and continue to develop my style as a photographer.
If you are interested in seeing my final 150 set. Here is a link to my Flickr set. Thanks for looking!!
