13 years ago I took an elective photography class in high school and absolutely fell in love with it. I loved the assignments, I loved being graded on my photographs, and I loved developing the film in the dark room. There was something so personal from loading the film into the camera, to making sure it wasn’t exposed to light when you unload it, and then delicately developing the photos. From that class on I was obsessed with photography. 13 years. It took me 13 years to FINALLY pursue my dream of being a photographer.
I give credit for that to my husband…since day one he has pushed me to follow my dreams no matter what they are. My first love was writing…I had such a big imagination as a child; my 5th grade teacher bragged to my mom that my short stories would be the first one she would pick up to read. I continued to write stories through out high school; always starting and stopping and restarting a new story. I ventured into poetry in my teenage years…the typical topics of heartbreak, fights with parents, not being accepted, not feeling pretty. As I grew up my imagination dwindled, as I matured and found a healthy balance between my parents, my appearance, and my relationships, I no longer had the motive to write such intense poetry. That didn’t stop my husband from buying me countless journals to try to prompt me to write. He tried to reignite my passion for writing but I had lost interest.
The one passion I never let go of (other than becoming a mom) was photography. He bought me a used professional camera the Christmas our son was born. It was an older camera and the settings were not working the way they should; I found that my camera phone took better pictures. 2 years later he bought me a new DSLR camera and I’ve been running with it since.
My parents moved from my childhood home earlier this year and my mom asked me to come over to pick out what I wanted to keep. I found my high school photography notebook in my old bedroom closet, along with all of the assignments and pictures I had taken. It seemed like a sign to let me know that I’m on the right road…I mean, really, how crazy is it that I found that old notebook the same year I pursued photography as a career?
I love being able to hold the images I created…holding the pictures that my 17 year old self developed by hand. Everything is basically digital now and I accept that. It just makes me love those high school photos even more.
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