wedding photography digital

Choosing Risk - Becoming a Wedding Photographer

This post doesn't have a whole lot to do with wedding photography or boudoir photography or photography really at all. It has to do a little more with what brought be here to being a wedding and portrait photographer. It was and still is...a risk. This morning I read a post that Jasmine Star wrote on her blog about taking risks. Jasmine Star is a popular wedding photographer in California. What I appreciate about her is her candor and she has a story that resonates for me.  Her blog post on Choosing Risk today couldn't have hit closer to home.


I have been photographing weddings for about eight years. I LOVE weddings.  I love weddings cakes, dresses, details and shoes. I love the excitement of the weddings, the emotion, the meaning of each moment. A wedding is a highlight in so many lives and I love being the one trusted to translate that experience into images that families, couples and friends can hold on to. There are fewer things more satisfying to me. Each one of my weddings is a highlight for me and I take great pride in the work I do, because I know how important those moments are and will be. It's a big job to get it right, but there is nothing that gives me a deeper sense of personal satisfaction. 


Taking the risk to become a wedding photographer, was a big one for me. I left art and photography behind for a long time because I never thought I would be able to make a living at it. So after studying fine art and photography, I went on to do what I thought I should do - go to university get my degree, get a job, but the house and the car, etc...it took me a long time of chasing yet another degree in law and a certificate for massage therapy and mountains of student loans...to finally come back full circle...taking a risk to do what truly makes me happy. It makes me exhale. The risk wasn't so much what I thought it was...because to not do what you love risks the most fundamental thing about being alive...bringing your unique and authentic self into the world. 


Thank you to my brother, whose life has taught me that it is both fragile and fleeting. And that there is no time to just move through day-to-day not doing what you love. Thank you CP- I'm following my heart. Thank you to my clients who believe in the work I do and have been patient as my business has grown in a surprising way and to all my friends in the wedding world for your encouragement and support...I'm looking forward to so much more ahead.  I wouldn't be here in a place so genuine without you all.


Thanks for letting me just say out loud, how much I love being a photographer.







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Contact: melanie@m-contemporaryphotography.com
613.769.6019


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