Six years. Wow. That's how long I've been in business now! My how things have changed.... No kids, living in Apollo Beach, hardly knowing anyone in the area, holding a shiny brand new camera and not knowing what in the world to do with it. Fast forward to now.... 3 kids, living in Wimauma, lots of equipment upgrades, hundreds of sessions under my belt, blessed with an amazing and loyal client base and a growing business. I still pinch myself sometimes. Looking at how far I've come often makes me think back to where I started.
“How did you get started in photography?” is a question I frequently hear. My typical response is that I’ve always kind of been obsessed with cameras and taking photos. It started out as just a sunset obsession. SO MANY SUNSETS. And let’s think about this for a minute. I’m 13 years old, I’m taking 10+ photos of the same sunset each night. Do you remember FILM? {What did she say??} Yeah, my parents had to take that film to the store down the road, fill out an envelope, drop the film cup in, seal it, drop it in the big box and.....wait....wait.... several days. Then they had to go pick it up, and PAY for it! Then we got to see if anything actually turned out! Is this ringing a bell with anyone? My parents always thought the pictures all looked the same; let's be honest, they kind of did. So we ended up with hundreds of pictures of what they thought were all the same sunsets. 🤣🤷🏼♀️ But I LOVED them. They spoke to me. At that point in my life, that’s the closest I felt to God; when I was soaking in a sunset. {I hadn’t made it to the Rockies or the Tetons just yet 🥰 🏔}. But I digress. You can see the issue. All the film, all the developing, all the “waste”. So my parents decided to make me work for it. I earned picture taking by completing chores. I guess you could call that my allowance😆. I’m pretty sure I also got an actual allowance, but I also had to earn pictures. Pretty smart! You did the dishes? You get 2 pictures tonight! It made me be more selective about when I took the photos. Sunsets get better with time. Wait for the good stuff.
So let’s continue down the timeline a little bit. We have a BIG extended family and we like to get together several times a year. I started to love documenting those gatherings. The name “paparazzi” started getting thrown around a bit🙃. Whatever. They liked the pictures 😘 {love y’all} Several times, my family and friends would say things like “I love your pictures, you could be a photographer!” I blew it off for a while. Sometimes it’s hard to see the magic in your own work. Even harder when you really don’t “know” what you’re doing. So I just kept right on snapping hundreds and thousands of pictures at our gatherings and with friends. Then I got married. The obsession continued. One day I mentioned to my husband, Bo, that maybe I could possibly, try to see if I might could potentially be good enough to make Photography a business. (See how wishy washy I was about it?) I was afraid of failure. I didn’t want to be embarrassed if people didn’t like my work. I didn’t know much about fancy cameras or lenses. Hadn’t taken any classes. I was kind of clueless. And I was scared.
At Christmas in 2012, Bo surprised me with my very own Canon T4i camera! What!? Then my in-laws surprised me with some camera classes! Naturally, I did what anyone would do - jumped on YouTube and started digging into what all these settings mean, how I change them and then what do I do with the photos?! Let the fun begin....
Fast forward to February. I've been playing with my new toys for a couple months, and it was time. The moment of truth. Poop or get off the pot. Yes, I said it🤣💩. I advertised $20 sessions letting people know that I was just getting started. I figured if I was terrible, people couldn’t get too mad about wasting $20 🤷🏼♀️. And if they liked the photos, then I could be building my client base! Win-win, right? Well, here we are, a full 6 years later. I'm still kind of in shock about it. Early on, people would ask if I was a professional photographer. It was hard for me to answer. I would literally respond, "Well, people pay me?" I was oozing with confidence. Now I'm a lot more comfortable saying that I am a professional photographer. It still feels kind of weird if I'm perfectly honest. Then I remind myself of the many families I've been able to serve, and how I've provided them with memories they will cherish for years to come. That's my job, yes, people pay me for it and most of them keep coming back. And it means the WORLD to me y'all! These last 6 years would not have been possible without my amazing clients. A huge thanks to all of you; I quite literally would not be where I am today without you and all of your referrals!
Beyond that, let's talk about the sacrifices my family and friends have made for me to build and run my business. All the babysitting requests when Bo isn't home, Bo having to rush home from work in the evenings, the missed birthday parties and outings, missed vacations, and even vacations without me there, all that baby pack-n-play time (ugh), sometimes too much TV so Mommy could work without babies hanging on, the extra anxiety I get on a regular basis that Bo handles like a pro - all of these are sacrifices, plus some, my family and friends have made for my business to operate and be successful.
As I reflect back, I'm grateful and humbled. Staying home with kids was never something that crossed my mind. Several random things happened that made this my reality. To say God knows what we need more than we do is the understatement of the century. I could not imagine my life any other way. Sometimes people ask if I "have" to do photography. Well, it doesn't "have" to be photography, but I do have to work. I do help support our family (though it is minor compared to Bo). I "get" to do photography. It's a blessing to be able to run my own business doing something that brings me joy. Let's be honest, it also brings me stress and anxiety and worry - but that's on me. This is my thing and I can't imagine doing any other "thing". So THANK YOU to everyone - clients and otherwise - who have helped me build and maintain this little photography business that started out as just a "maybe by chance possibility".
Having said ALL OF THAT - phew! - it's time to announce my contest! In the month of February, the anniversary of launching my business, I'll be giving away a FREE FULL SESSION including ALL IMAGES! That's a $195 value! So how can you win? This is for any of my past clients to show how much I appreciate you (and there will be a bonus for one new client as well!). My facebook page is sooooo close to ONE THOUSAND likes, so let's get it there and give away a session! Here are the details for the contest:
1) Post one photo that I've take of you and/or your family.
2) You MUST tag my business page or I won't know you did it!
3) Tell your friends to like my page AND like your photo!
4) At the end of the month, if my page is up to 1,000 likes, I'll tally up all the photo likes and the most likes wins a FREE FULL SESSION with ALL IMAGES - $195 value!
5) BONUS: The winner picks a friend to receive a $75 Gift Certificate toward any Full Session!
Again, I appreciate y'all more than you know. Thank you for supporting me in this adventure!
Gratefully,
Casie Dring, Owner/Photographer