I feel like it’s time to give everyone a little peek into why I suddenly started talking about and shooting commercial photography. I’m on a journey, and this is the story!

In 2016, I had my third baby in the spring, and I had weddings booked all summer. I remember pumping milk before and during each wedding (every 3 hours!). Weddings were getting a little tricky with kids. I started to wonder what the future of my photography business would look like. Would I shoot weddings forever? Were we done having babies?

Questioning

In 2018 we found out we were expecting our 4th little munchkin, and I again started to wonder if weddings were going to be something I could keep doing indefinitely, or if there would be a time when they no longer fit as well with our family. I wasn’t ready to stop shooting or leave photography, and I still loved weddings, but there was that question in the back of my mind.

Enter Commercial Photography

In the spring I discovered this thing called commercial/brand photography – photography for brands or businesses. I was very curious and very interested in the possibility, but weddings were my comfort zone! I shot weddings through that summer and fall but kept hearing about commercial photography. It sounded like something that I would enjoy, but I wondered if it would hold the same meaning as someone’s wedding day. I was nervous about starting something new when I had worked so hard to establish myself as a wedding photographer.

Life Takes a Turn

In October of 2018, my dad passed away suddenly in a tragic accident. I was just over a month away from having our baby, and it rocked our world. There is something about losing someone close to you that makes you re-evaluate your life and how you’re living it. My dad always encouraged my big dreams and goals and working toward them. We loved talking about whatever personal development books we were reading and how we wanted to improve. I remember thinking I was going to work harder so when I saw him again after this life I could tell him all about the things I had been working on. I wanted to make him proud, even though he was always proud of me.

In December, a commercial photographer I had been following announced her online workshop. I took the plunge! It was a lot of money, but I went for it. I had a new baby and my husband was gone a lot but I tried to dive in anyway. I am so grateful that a few brands took a chance on me!

Pause

I shot weddings and families throughout 2019; the summer and fall were so busy and it was awesome! It didn’t leave me much time to pursue commercial photography so I put it on the backburner a bit.

This past October, we hit the 1-year mark without my dad. More cause for reflection on whether I was going for the dreams I had, and making sure they were in line with the lifestyle I wanted for my family. Molly is our baby and she turned 1 this past November. In 5 more years, I won’t have any babies at home during the day! My girls will all be in school and in more activities and planning my life 1-1.5 years ahead is going to get trickier. Most of my brides book that far ahead. And I love my brides! I call them my “planner brides” because they are just that and you know organization is another thing in life that “lights me up!” 😉

Looking Ahead

I’ve been looking and planning ahead for our little family. In 5 years I’ll be done shooting weddings so that I have more weekends with them. I won’t be missing soccer games or all of the few hot sunny summer weekends we get here 😉 It’s a hard decision to come to – it’s hard to let go of things we love, but there are 4 little people I love even more. I won’t be done for 5 more years, so send me all of the brides until then. In the meantime, I’ll be working on growing the family and brand photography parts of my business for a hopefully seamless transition.

I joined a mastermind this year and our leader once compared growing a new business or a new part of your business to having babies. When you have a second baby, you don’t get to skip all of the late-night feedings and diaper changes just because you’ve had a baby before. You still get to do all of the hard work for each baby, and you get to watch your baby grow and develop. So here’s to my second business baby – and a lot of hard work in 2020! 🙂