The Beginning of a New Chapter.

You know the dreaded ‘fun fact’ icebreaker? I often found myself faced with it as an attorney, whether it was a team-building exercise or some awful networking event. “Tell us about yourself,” they’d request.

“Well, I’m also a photographer,” I’d say, “and I’ve been managing my own part-time photography side-hustle through college and law school. I shoot weddings, engagement photos, events — pretty much anything really.”

My colleagues were some combination of impressed and surprised. What a bold pursuit to have undertaken in lieu of more hours in the library studying for the bar. I was surprised too. I was beginning to realize that this “fun-fact” delivered to a stale board room full of attorneys might just be the real me, clamoring to be noticed beneath the suit and tie enclosure I’d willingly constructed around him.

During the global pandemic, which brought a great many people to an introspective halt, I had begun to discover something important about myself: I wasn’t happy. I was beginning to feel overwhelmed by the sensation that my life had been stuck in cruise control going in a direction I didn’t fully relate to or derive any joy from.

I’m sure you’re wondering why someone this unhappy with being a lawyer went through all the trouble to get there in the first place — it certainly wasn’t the cheapest decision I’ve ever made. I began to truly appreciate my own mental health and the features of my life which were hurting it. I am an intelligent person who’d overcome law school, passed the bar, and was on a successful career trajectory — surely I could carry on. But at what cost? At what point does it become unjustifiable? I decided that my past decisions shouldn’t continue to dictate future ones. I owed it to myself to never stop examining the nature of my own happiness and changing what needs changing no matter how scary the student debt (amongst other things) might be.

So, faced with a choice between the sunk-cost-fallacy that had become my legal career, and putting my own happiness and mental health first, I boldly chose the latter.

Now, as I type up this first blog post for my very own website, I see only possibilities ahead. Am I a bit nervous? Certainly. Diving full-time into my own business is an intimidating thing. To date, I’ve only operated off referrals and my own personal Instagram. I proceed, however, with confidence: Confidence in my talents, my past work, and in the goodwill I’ve accumulated since the day I started capturing the most magical moments in the lives of those dearest to me.

If I know only one thing, it's that everything that I see
Of the world outside is so inconceivable often I barely can speak
Yeah I'm tongue-tied and dizzy and I can't keep it to myself
What good is it to sing helplessness blues, why should I wait for anyone else?

~Fleet Foxes, Helplessness Blues

To those who’ve supported my passion from the beginning, I welcome you to join me on this exciting new chapter. And to those of you who I’ve yet to meet, I sincerely look forward to the intertwining of our narratives and the great impressions we’ll leave on each other through the beautiful art of photography.

Cheers to new beginnings!

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