editing

I'm used to editing.

Contrast, saturation, fill light, split toning...it's a series of steps that I go through on virtually every photograph (even though I'm getting MUCH better at loving my photos straight out of camera, or SOOC as it is commonly referred to in the photography world).

It has become easy to edit a photograph, but it is still considerably harder to edit myself. I don't mean censoring (because if anything, I definitely speak freely and openly and don't apologize for it). Instead, I mean changing the little pieces of me that make up the whole.

I experienced a lot of change when Ryan and I first started to get serious (I resisted the urge to say 'going steady' and I'm pleased with myself), and my personality has morphed alongside our relationship. Lucky for us, we matured in a way that brought us closer.

If I had made a list of my traits and my interests a year ago, I don't know how many of those things would have been really TRUE to myself. Only through creating this company, and trying to brand it around who I am and what I'm all about, have I been able to really figure out who I am.

When you're young and you're new, it's undeniable that almost every other person in the industry has more to offer than you. They have sample albums, they have studio storefronts, they have connections and networking clubs and the latest and greatest photographic equipment. I wanted all of those things, and I thought that because I didn't have any of them, that I was somehow already behind.

I worried there wasn't a place for me in this industry.

During that period, I really focused my energy on finding out how everyone else seemed to make a place for themselves, even against all odds. Jasmine Star is a world renowned photographer, who has inspired me, and motivated me, every step of the way.

She wrote an article about starting out small, and I hope to never forget a single word of it.



As I made personal connections with each of my clients, and listened to some of the feedback I was getting, I realized that they didn't care about the fancy stuff I didn't have. Instead, they told me that they felt at home with me, and I felt it too (in a 'if we don't make a concerted effort to leave, we will end up chatting all night' kinda way).

Slowly I started to really get an idea of where I wanted to end up, and what I was going to have to do to get there. Part of that included taking a good hard look at everything I currently have going, and making edits wherever I needed to.

I see my wardrobe changing to reflect the kind of person I want to be. I see my company and my blog changing in order to attract the kinds of clients who are passionate and likeminded. I see my photos starting to reflect what I truly consider to be romantic, simple, and fresh.

I am editing, and I am starting to like what I see. And if I have learned anything in the process, it's that there is a place for me in this industry; that I know for sure.

I am feeling the love :)



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1 comment :

  1. Laura, what an interesting post. I have just finished a photoshoot with you for our family (the Witherow's at the Nature Museum), and I picked you precisely because of your knack for capturing fresh, simple and candid moments. But you did more then that... you gave us a piece of you and we gave you a piece of us. How often do you hug (and your teenager daughters hug) your photographer when you part! If this is your journey towards who you are becoming... I've got to book you for next year and the next :)

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