I love stories, and I think we all like hearing stories. It makes us seem real, not just a name. I’ve been in wedding photography for around 8 years now, and I’ve been blogging for probably 3 or 4 years now, but I don’t think I ever shared how I became a wedding photographer in the first place.
How I became a Wedding Photographer
Often when we look at where we are and how we got there, we see that one choice had a large impact on everything. My story is just like that. When I entered 10th grade, I had no interest in photography, but I needed an art credit. I randomly decided to sign up for photography. I don’t feel like I was really that good or anything, but there was something neat about taking photos, developing film, and making prints. I ended up doing photography the next two years for the yearbook, and I was really hooked.
For most of that time, I did a lot of sports photography. I was a football player and loved sports, so I think it was only natural that I gravitated toward it. I was lucky enough to continue this after high school. I worked with a professional my freshman year of college, and I mainly did sports. This time, it was for the Razorbacks. It was a very exciting time. I took some time away from photography my sophomore year, but my junior year I bought my own digital camera and started trying to make some money. I went to different kids sporting events and sold prints to the parents. There wasn’t a ton of money in it, but I liked shooting sports.
I graduated from college in 2006 and got a teaching/coaching job at Mayflower. I still did photos of certain events, but for the most part, I stopped taking photos. I did however talk my wife into shooting our football games, so the kids would get photos. My second year into teaching, things changed. A teacher was engaged and approached me about shooting her wedding. I really had no interest in shooting weddings, never even thought about it. She managed to talk me into it, and I loved it. It was something new and exciting, and it was the first time I really started using Photoshop. Once I started shooting weddings, I was addicted.
I sometimes wonder what I would be doing or who I would be if I had never taken that photography class. Would I have eventually gotten into it? I doubt it. What if I had said no to the teacher? Would I eventually have shot a wedding? Who knows. I’ve always thought the story of how I became a wedding photographer was an interesting one. I’d love to hear someone else’s story about how they got into their profession of choice. Feel free to share it with me.
