I Am Thirsty Photos

Photography is something that I have loved for a very long time. When I was really young, my parents would buy me disposable cameras, and I'd take snapshots of flowers, sunsets, small animals, everything. Once I was given a point-and-shoot digital camera by a friend (a HUGE blessing), I became interested in learning photography.

I've done plenty of reading, but I've never taken an official photography class. Learning photography has been very much something I've done on my own, and I'm glad for that. I have loved the experience. I'm glad that nobody told me how to acheive selective focus; I figured it out for myself. I'm glad I learned to edit photos myself, without someone telling me how they thought I should do it. [This, by the way, is my photo editing philosophy: Photography is an art, and editing is an art, and if you can do them both well, you can make a masterpiece.] I love that I've been able to simply learn whatever interests me, whenever I feel like it. And a lot of what I've learned has been through experience. Learning photography has been such an adventure; I've come a long way but I still have so far to go. And quite frankly, that excites me.

I considered majoring in photography for quite some time. At this point I feel like I need to be in nursing, but photography is most likely something I will do for the rest of my life, even if it's not a major. I feel like it's more about your skill level than your piece of paper, anyway.

This year, I've been feeling more competent in my photography. I am by no means even remotely close to being professional, and honestly I don't know that I want to be a "professional photographer." But I've been feeling more and more confortable with using the things I've learned, and I itch to take photos. Sometimes I get so excited about a new photo idea that I have to stop thinking about it, or I can't sleep at night.

I've always wanted to photograph a wedding. I love weddings as much as any other girl, and I've always thought that to photograph one would be not only a great accomplishment, but a wonderful experience. Last month, I had a message on my phone saying that one of my neighbors had mentioned my photography to one of her friends, who recommended me to a lady in her church that's getting married this April. So I checked my calendar and called the lady and we met at Starbucks, had a nice talk, and we signed a contract for her wedding photos.

I'm going to be her wedding photographer.

I am so crazy excited.

It's been so incredible to see how God's giving me photography opportunities. I haven't marketed myself at all, other than posting photos on my website, which is:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/i_am_thirsty

And yet people are calling me and asking, and it's been great. This makes me smile--I had rather a difficult time for awhile, trying to decide whether to focus on photography or nursing. God clearly led me to pursue nursing, and while I'm moving forward in that, enrolled in the nursing program at LeTU for next year, He's giving me opportunities to do photography, too. I feel His smile. I needn't have worried...He is good. =)

Oh, about the title...my photography name. more on that later.