Is this thing on?

Everything Else

Jan 20

Tuesday, January 20, 2015. 5:39 PM.

And just like that, my first blog post is born.

I've never written a blog before and it's going to take some time for me to make this a regular thing because like always (especially with homework), I'm writing this shortly before I'm due to release my website to the world. Frankly, I don't think having a website is THAT big of a deal to most since there are so many social media platforms now that make it so easy and accessible to showcase one's work and have a space for one to represent themselves. However, it is quite a big milestone for me.

Ever since I discovered my love for photography back in eleventh grade, I haven't looked back since. I knew that being a photographer was exactly what I wanted to do for a living and so I began to work towards building a career out of it. The only thing was, I had to figure out HOW to get there...wherever "there" was. I thought being a photographer meant taking pretty photos and as along as you had a camera, knew how to use macro and took photos of flowers and landscapes, you were a photographer. Surely, I know by now how wrong I was.

Fast forward to 2012, I'm beginning my first year at Emily Carr University and I was the giddiest little nerd there ever was. I was so excited to be following my dreams and acquiring the tools and knowledge I needed to become what I've always wanted to be - a photographer. But what does that even mean? Am I going to become a fine art photographer who makes a living out of being an artist? Am I going to become an editorial photographer for a fashion magazine? The possibilities lived on in a vast, spacious world and so did my mind. I struggled throughout the next two years to figure out what it was that I actually wanted to do.

Here we are now, in the present, and it's absolutely terrifying for me to admit it but here it goes - I think (can't be too certain still) I've figured it out. Being a gallery artist does not interest me in the slightest; I have no desire to see my work hanging on blank white walls in a gallery while people sip on flutes of champagne "admiring" my photographs and trying to find meaning in them. Instead, I want people to admire my work because they are in them. I want my photographs to have meaning for them because they mean something to them. With that being said, I will still take what I've learned at art school and use that towards embarking on the path to becoming a fine art inspired wedding and portrait photographer. It constantly feels like it is a million miles away, completely unachievable and out of my reach. While I'm sure it will feel this way for quite some time, I hope that by taking the step in creating a platform where I can represent myself, my work and what I'm aspiring to be, I will get there. If your dreams don't scare you, they're not big enough, right?