Welcome to my journey as a photographer. It all started as a high schooler outside of St. Louis. I took a beginners photography class (which, for the record, wasn’t even my first choice) that introduced me to a creative side I had never faced before. We started with the basics – how to shoot in manual, edit in Photoshop – and I vividly remember feeling that maybe I was good at something after all. I turned in my first portrait assignment and felt like I was really onto something.
My first portrait assignment
In 2018, as a junior in high school, I started working with a local media publication. I started off by writing concert reviews, which was cool enough in itself, but one day during class I got word they wanted me to fill in for another photographer on an upcoming concert. I was horrified. I had never done anything to this extent before. All I had ever done up until this point was follow my friends around with the camera. I prepared for the big day. I practiced shooting in terrible lighting, watched millions of YouTube videos, read every blog there was to read until I was out of time. It was time to step up.
To say I was nervous was an understatement. I was in a venue I was unfamiliar with, surrounded by people I had never met before.
All I had was my Canon t5i and a dream.
I remember talking to some of the photographers before the show, and one of them asking to see my settings. He was shocked that I was shooting my first concert in manual. It was sink or swim.
The photos I took that night are still some of my favorite. Nothing will replace the feeling of belonging I felt after editing those photos and turning them in. I had made it. Maybe not to Vogue, or Taylor Swift’s tour photographer, but I had that same sense of pride. I did some more shows over the course of the next year before I left the STL area after graduating high school.
Some photos I’ve taken thanks to Litehouse Media (formerly Arch City Media)
I took what I learned in my class and turned it into what I know today. I pride myself on staying positive through the hiccups, and learning how to master my equipment – even though it was never the largest or most expensive at every event. Great photos don’t require large price tags and long lenses, and that became my brand. Maybe my photos weren’t in magazines or on celebrities social media pages (yet!), but that doesn’t take away from their value. I look forward to the knowledge and photos that are yet to come!
“We take photographs as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone.”
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