10 years, And Still a Hot Mess (but with great lighting)
Sitting down to write this is such a ‘pinch me’ experience - cos what the flip do you mean I started my biz 10 years ago? It feels like it was last year that I nervously snagged my instagram handle, created a facebook page and started asking for $50 for a full shoot (the website didn’t come til later cos - naive beginner mistakes!). Fifty bucks felt like such a huge amount to receive for something I simply liked to do in my spare time. Lots has happened since that moment, but everything since has been made possible because of you, my fab clients. So before I go any further lets get the giant, fat, smooch-your-cheek, bear hug THANK YOU out of the way. It’s been crazy the last 10 years, the next 10 will be more so. Thanks for hopping on the rollercoaster with me.
I’ve been around cameras all my life - my mum has wardrobe’s full of albums from our childhood. I got my first film camera at age 10 (ish - my memory sucks), and I definitely did not ‘fall in love’ with it immediately. But I still used it, and enjoyed the fun of printing photos and sticking them on my bedroom wall more than anything else. Speed along and I have my first and only bub in my early 20s. Obviously I felt the need to overdocument every single second of her life (common reaction, right?). Fun times. I became a solo parent and as my daughter grew, her severe disabilities became more and more obvious. I found myself becoming SO frustrated about not being able to find a photographer that would understand and have experience with what she could handle and how to interact with us best. I longed for fancy profesh photos of the two of us, but knew a regular photoshoot was simply unachievable with her. So I got myself a camera and started to do it myself. Not quite the same, but close enough in my books!
After a while my friends started to ask me to take some snaps - and the vibes were good. I had a crazy idea - maybe I could offer super cheap photos to other families with kids like mine? I knew how to work with them, and also knew that one of the hurdles for these families was the fear of judgment from someone else witnessing their kids' behaviours. Clearly I was not going to blink about those behaviours - I lived with it 24/7 and nothing would surprise me! (SIDE NOTE - clients still say this is one of their big fears, 10 years later!).
I had a thought, a passion to make photography accessible (it was 2015 after all - the acceptance of neurodiversity was yet to exist!), and honestly? Absolutely NO fucking business thinking I could pull this off. My first shoots were a mix of nerves, incorrect camera settings, raging imposter syndrome, barely charging for photos and an indecent love of filters (again - it was 2015 people. Instagram was popping off in such a different way back then. Let’s keep this a safe space with no judgment of my Valenica filter use).
I learnt as I went, and crossed all my fingers that the disability community would find me. Spoiler Alert - they didn’t. BUT the clients who did find me, and trusted me, became the backbone of my tiny biz. I held space for the families with neurodivergence, but I also started getting enquiries for so many other family, wedding, newborn and maternity shoots. I went with it - never believing that it would grow into much.
I started to teach myself more, I discovered YouTube - I experimented with my style and started finding that my joy and love for the messy real chaos was where my heart was most happy. I loved my messy, ‘ugly’, not perfect life. And loved when I was able to capture other peoples as well. I learned quickly that I hated to pose people, loved to work with kids and was THRILLED when people would come back and ask me to capture multiple moments in their lives. I started to talk more about my experience raising a child with higher needs and found that the neurodivirgent community were starting to find me (my original flame of passion was still burning in the background all that time!)
My gratitude to everyone who came into my world kept expanding each year, I met so many amazing people, have been a part of so many amazing moments - and now my beast of a business seems to have a life of its own. New doors open constantly and taking the leaps to grow and evolve keep my creative spirit alive and thriving.
But even after all this time - the reason I started this business never changes. And every time I book a client who asks me nervously if I’m ok with their child being ‘different’ - my soul smiles gently. Being the person I wished for 16years ago for these families helps me in ways I can’t even say. I love how chaotic, loud and wonderful my biz has become. And if I get another 10 years like this - I’ll be a happy woman.
Lil and I get professional photos every year now - isn’t it great how far the world has come?