I want to share with you one of my “whys” today. Why do I do photography and what is keeping me pushing forward in the uphill climb of creating and promoting a business?
Like many photographers, when business gets slow, we might start second guessing ourselves, our work and or our business practices. In full vulnerability, that is so me today.
I take photos because I LOVE the whole process from finding the perfect location to capturing the perfect light and freezing that heart warming interaction between my subjects for all time. I love the editing and creating a complete, polished work of art for every image. I love seeing eyes light up, the gasps, the tears that come when my clients see their session’s photos. Those are a lot of my reasons why but there’s another one I want to talk about today. And that is this lady right here:
My Grandma, Sarah Helen. My grandma LOVED looking through old photos and reminiscing. I learn a lot about my family and the life she lived through those hours of sitting with her and looking through the HUNDREDS of photos she had saved all those years. Even when she couldn’t always remember the names of people, she still had stories to tell about the occasion for the picture. These are the moments I loved spending with her and really miss now that she’s gone.
When I am an old lady and my grandchildren come over, I want to have boxes of photos and albums to enjoy looking through with them and telling them stories about their mommies growing up and their great grandparents and their crazy great Uncle Kyle. I look forward to bonding with my girl’s kids over those pictures and passing on moments/traditions that I had and cherished with my own grandma.
So when I am wondering if I am doing the right thing with my life and pursuing my passions in photography, like today, I remember my grandma and how much she loved reminiscing over her photos. I think about what an incredible gift it is that I can offer my clients a way to look back on their own memories and pass them down from generation to generation. It may not seem like a priority investment these days but I guarantee you won’t regret capturing those moments in time to look back on as life moves forward at breakneck speeds and kids grow and family dynamics change.
So that’s one of my whys and I am grateful that even though Grandma has been gone for a while, I still have a piece of her in my heart that I can share that with others and be reminded why I love what I do and why I invest so wholly into my clients and my business.
~Katie