Creating a BUSINESS!!
Start a side hustle, they said. It'll be so easy, they said. Four hundred dollars later and I officially have an LLC with the state of Minnesota, a few hundred more and I have a tax ID number for the IRS.
Truly, I have been planning to start this business ever since I started teaching. My senior photos were taken by one of my high school teachers and it was a fantastic experience. What a perfect built-in market as a teacher, right? Then this fall my best friend got married and not to be dramatic but the photographers may have saved the day. When the dress wasn't there quite on schedule, the photographers had a plan and did the getting ready shots and the detail shots. They're honestly my heroines for that day. I also think they had the best relationship with my friend of all of the vendors they used. So shout out to Sylvia in Door County and her second shooter!
Like you may have read on my "About" page, I have had a camera close by since I was young whether it was a film camera passed down from my parents, the i-Zone Polaroid, my first camera phone, or a digital camera like a point-and-shoot. I had a fantastic Canon point-and-shoot with me while studying abroad in Spain sophomore year at UW-Eau Claire, yet I was eternally jealous of my two friends who brought their DSLRs. After graduating from college, I bought my first mirrorless camera body, a Canon M50. This was especially exciting as I was about to start the Disney College Program in Orlando and I was dying to take photos while I was there of my favorite rides and parks as well as of my friends and myself. I also thought I would vlog but I soon found that I hated editing video and also was way too self conscious to talk to myself and a camera. I didn't know anything about using manual mode and thus unfortunately almost all of those photos were taken in automatic (oof). It was fortunate that I had the camera however because my phone, nicknamed my toaster phone by my friends, decided to completely conk out and wouldn't take pictures or videos.
Since then, I have been learning to shoot in aperture priority mode, got an iPhone to help learn better composition on any type of camera, and finally manual mode this summer. Y'all, it has been a LIFE CHANGER!!!
Process
In November of 2022 my beautiful, kind, caring cousin got married in an intimate beach ceremony with only about 30 family members present. Because her dad was officiating the wedding, he handed the camera to me. No pressure for a first real manual mode experience, right? The colors for the wedding were coral, rust, shades of yellow and off white, and tons of greenery from ferns to monsteras to birds of paradise. After coming home to edit, I loved the warmth of the bokeh from the beach and found so many photos that I absolutely adored. Sharing them with family was so affirming as people complimented my work and downloaded the images. Throughout December I took photos of friends at events and just hanging out at a park or downtown. In early January of 2023, I decided to just commit and registered as an LLC with the state of Minnesota, which is a thrilling and slightly pricey way to jump into business. I registered with the IRS to get an EIN and it finally feels real now that this website is up and going!
If you've stuck around for all of that, I appreciate you beyond belief and if you're interested in working with me, head to my Contact page and I hope to include you in this journey of mine!
