I am almost 100% a self-taught photographer. In the very beginning of this whole thing, as we should call it, I actually avoided booking sessions. I know that sounds ridiculously backwards, but in 2009 and 2010, when I was just starting to dabble in all this photography stuff, I was a deep, deep introvert. Perhaps I should write a blog post solely on that topic soon. While I always want want to excel at everything I do, obviously sometimes that can’t always be the case right off the bat. Things take practice, and time to work through, and practice, and practice and practice. In the beginning, I was happy to just get some shots in focus. I shot on a semi-automatic mode and was embarrassed by my images before they were edited to look better. . . less dark. . . cropped the right way. Nothing was right in camera as I took the shots. Not only is it difficult to start something like a photography business because photography is hard enough as it is, but then there’s the aspect of having to actually converse with people and try to make a vision work when first of all, you don’t even know what the vision is in the first place, and second of all, you barely know these people who you are trying to direct. So, in the beginning, there were a lot of well, pretty boring, safe images. Nothing pleasing about them. Lighting was off. White balance was off. Posing was off. There was rarely anything actually right with the images.

And then I had three sessions between the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011 in which I captured three shots that I would consider paramount to my growth as a photographer. Ones that ignited the passion in me to chase after more just like them. Looking back on them now, I still love them. It’s because back then, to me, these shots were like winning the lottery. They were something I could proudly display for others to see and take pride in the fact that I shot them. They were different for me back then. Little glimpses of the essence of childhood, which now I seek to try to find at every session. But three years ago, when I was clinging to anything that would make a decent image, these ones stuck out to me like a piece of shimmery gold. They were real moments. And real moments tell stories.