After we had our first baby, the topic of buying a “nice” camera came up.  A camera that could give that nice “blurry background” as I used to call it, technically called bokeh.  I had always been interested in photography and took every class in high school that I could on it, using film and developing in the dark room. Michael and I had discussed investing in a nice camera many times during our relationship but never were able to pull the trigger until we found ourselves sitting around all day, staring at the absolute cutest face we had ever seen.  Michael said to me one day: ” We are going to spend my full salary on professional pictures every month if we don’t get a camera, aren’t we?!” and of course my answer was YES!  In all honesty, it is SO important to get professional pictures taken, which is why we still do it even though now we are professional photographers, but more on that another day. For today, I want to talk about what it means to be a professional photographer- because there is no real clear definition!

      One thing I have always loved about this journey from the moment that Nikon D5100 (yes, I was initially a Nikon girl!) arrived at my doorstep was that you can choose your level of involvement!  At that point for me, it was just going to be a hobby. Something that had always been a passion, refined a bit so that we could really capture the new experience of having a child in a way that we loved in between those professional sessions! 🙂 But as I dove headfirst in during those sleepy early months of newborn while I was home for that year, I completely feel in love.  I could not research enough, read enough, and self-teach enough.  I definitely think the first step is having an eye for it.  And I had the background in composition and light from those high school days.  But the technical side of mastering manual mode on a camera (which I knew we wanted to shoot in so we could control those images of that sweet baby vs the camera controlling them) is a whole other story…but I often tell people, depending on the time you have to invest, there is SO MUCH AMAZING INFORMATION you can get online!  So many resources to self-teach…or maybe more appropriately labeled, self-lead.

      Over the years, I have taken a lot of online classes.  I have purchased a lot of different educational tools, guides, and templates to help, and watched endless webinars to learn.  Early this year, I joined the International Academy of Wedding Photographers and am working towards a certificate from that school, but not necessarily because I believe anyone needs a certificate, more because I thought what the Academy was offering was amazing, and I have been so glad I did that. I went to my first in person conference in March and learned from some amazing industry leaders.  But for the most part, my learning has been self-led, based on how far I could dig and what I could invest in online.  A lot of this is because I had a mom- I was never in a situation where I could do a ton of in person work. And a lot of this is because I had another job- teaching, even half time, is always a way more than full time commitment.

     Today, however, this changes.  I am doing an all day coaching session with my favorite boss lady, my favorite photographer.  Someone who’s work I adore, yes, but who’s heart I adore even more.  I have followed her work for years and cheered for her business, saw her at that conference in March, and just knew that I needed to learn from her in person as a part of the next big steps for JGP.  To make our next set of waves. And I could not be MORE excited. I always loved being a student – being given assignments, and help, and advice, and putting it to work myself.  And I completely believe in furthering education in whatever you do, and for Michael and I today, that is happening! We are doing a husband and wife team coaching session with the lovely Katelyn James and her husband MIchael, that includes an anniversary session, and we cannot WAIT!  I know this is going to be a huge game changer for us, and I cannot wait to share so much more about it!

Happy Tuesday friends…make it a good one, and make sure you do something you LOVE today!

*Our last professional photo from last year by my sweet friend Nikki Zimmerman!!