In my family, we have tons of home movies from the 90’s. A lot of my childhood was captured on video, and there are dozens of albums filled with photos from disposable cameras. As I got older, I really appreciated having these memories and always felt eager to capture my own.
I think I got my first digital camera when I was maybe ten or eleven years old. I don’t remember using it much, just receiving it, and feeling like it would be something I’d really enjoy using. I was always the kid who had to bring a disposable on class field trips, forced my siblings to recreate music videos or dramatic movie scenes, and, when Instagram was created, you better believe I was obnoxiously posting every little thing, multiple times a day (can we bring that back, please?).
Fast forward to almost three years ago, my sister had just given birth to her first baby, and I got the urge to start capturing memories again. We are the adults now, and I want my nephews and my future kids to be able to look back on not just special days like birthdays or Christmas, but everyday moments. Summers at the beach, the first warm day of spring at the park, the ice cream truck, and the way my nephew says “ice cream truck”. These factors, and the one where my sister told me how much she paid for her newborn's photo shoot, made me impulsively spend way too much money on a camera in June of 2023.
My nephew became my little model, taking (my version of) professional photos for every little milestone of his. I’ve watched hours of videos on my specific camera and photography in general, and while I still have so much to learn, I’m really proud of how much I’ve improved since the start.
Sometimes I think about what it would look like to pursue photography a bit more seriously. There are SO many paths you can go down, and what excites me the most is the idea of doing retail/brand photography. I’ve done a bit for my job, and I thoroughly enjoy each experience. I also just started a business that will really allow me to start gaining experience, which is exciting.
I’ve tried numerous kinda of hobbies over the past few years, and the two that have really stuck have been writing and photography. I think that’s how you know you’re meant to do something—when it's natural and easy to do.
Also, you can be good at almost anything– because practice makes perfect.
If you want to see some of my photos, I’ve slowly started posting them here 🤍 (I can not post them here because I would get decision paralysis trying to choose even my top ten favorites).