One year ago I was sweating as my finger hovered over the “pay now” button to purchase this website.
“Over two-hundred dollars down the drain!” I thought, as I felt the life seeping out from the top of my head to the very bottom of my feet. Clicking though various welcome images and how-to’s, I felt very alone but also, an optimistic step in the right direction.
“The start of phase one has begun” I said as I diabolically squinted my eyes like a cartoon villain. When would I ever get to say that again and mean it?! Probably never…but I do like a crafty plan.
This was only the beginning of what I would discover to be the missing piece of my life. I gave myself two years to “make this photography thing real”. I had tried photography before with a Pentax K-1000, ahem, a FILM camera. Then again with a Canon Rebel T3i, remnants of an old business I was co-founder of. I failed miserably at photography twice.
But I still had an itch!
I took a picture on my phone of three trees and a mountain behind them, it was beautiful. It moved me so much, I pulled my funds together and bought a Canon Rebel SL2 in October of 2018, I didn’t touch it for two months. Knowing I can be a bit flaky on some projects, I had to go all in. On December 31st 2018, I bought this website and devised this simple two year plan:
Taken on the Virgin Lake Trail in WA during a nearby forest fire, Aug ‘17
Year One
-Teach myself how to operate the camera, learn exposure, and about lenses.
-Learn how to use Lightroom.
-Take pictures of everything.
-Have fun!
Knowing myself, I usually get bored six months in, I would then revamp the website to sell my paintings, and I can use the camera to post detailed pictures. However if this did go right, I’d need a back up plan, ya know, just in case.
Year Two
-Pick a focus and learn how to make money from my photos.
-Build a business model.
-Hold the Moon hostage, become a millionaire (sounds fun to me).
I’ve found myself at year two, more inspired then ever to stick with this photography thing for the rest of my life, but also wondering who to get the money from when I takeover of the Moon.
I’ve upgraded to a full-frame Canon mirrorless EOS RP during my usual six month quitting point (quitting crop sensor counts I suppose). I also have two pro lenses, 70-200 and 17-40, both F4. Yippy skippy!
In the Fremont neighborhood in Seattle, November ‘19
Thousands of pictures later, I’ve decided to give travel photography a shot, I love landscapes, I’m an active person and since living in the city, I crave nature and adventure. Plus it’s what brought me to photography for the third and final time.
I’ve started this journal to reference my past, for future clients to get to know me a bit more, and work on my writing skills. I will also be starting a vlog in the near future, to sharpen my video editing skills.
It’s scary to be here, I don’t know where I’m going but I feel like this is the start to something. However one year ago, I was thinking the same thing, but I looked to a piece of paper that I wrote to myself in a bad spot in life:
It Will Be A Success Because I Will Make It A Success.