I feel like the beginning of my photography business journey started with motherhood. I remember the day that I was on my knees praying in my closet when I was pregnant with Honesty Noel and I was asking God that I wanted to be a stay at home mom with Honesty and it seemed impossible at the time, but I still asked anyway.
A few months later after that prayer, when I was 6 months pregnant a car veered into our lane and hit us head on. We lost Honesty Noel and all of my dreams shatter to a million pieces. From wanting to be a stay at home mom to becoming a mom at all. It was one of the darkest times of my life.
In 2018 during my waiting time to get pregnant again, God put the desire in my heart to start my photography business which I have always been passionate about. I went all in! I worked really hard day and night to do everything that was required to become a legal business, to taking all the courses that I could to learn as much as I could. I invested in the best gear and I started to put everything I learned to practice.
At the time I was still working at Lockheed Martin full-time, and I would come home and work on photography, so I never really got to rest much. I was working for free at the beginning or for very low income, but that didn’t matter to me because I was gaining knowledge and experience and that is priceless.
In 2019 after dealing with infertility for 5 years, I got pregnant with twins! Halia Faith and Haven Grace! That was such a miracle from God after all the years of going through infertility and mourning.
I knew in my heart that when the girls were born, I was not going to go back to my job. I didn’t see the whole picture yet on how that would happen though. But because of all the complications I had early in the pregnancy, the doctor put me on bed rest and I never went back to working at Lockheed Martin. My prayer of being a stay at home mom was answered. Not the way I envisioned at all, not without a lot of heartache along the way, and not without a lot of hard work and sacrifice. And being a stay at home mom for me didn’t mean not working, it meant being able to take care of the girls all throughout the day, working at night and on the weekends.
Once I became a stay at home mom, I also became a full time business owner. I took off the first 6 months after having the girls, but after that time, the business took off. Now I still manage to work 30 to 40 hours a week and sometimes more during busy season and take care of the girls at the same time. I have served hundreds of clients now and I am able to give a great experience and even deliver galleries quickly.
Proverbs 16:9 We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps. This verse really speaks to me about my life. I have made so many plans, but the Lord has determined the outcome. Although going through dark valleys is part of this life, if we keep our eyes on Jesus and trust Him, He will work all the bad for our good and He will reward us greatly at the same time.
So the reason why I started my photography business is because God put the desire and talents in me, but also because I needed to be there for my girls and I wanted to be the one taking care of them and raising them.
And although those are big enough reasons to start a business, it’s still not enough to keep me working hard and giving my clients the best experience they deserve. My motivation behind the work that I do are my clients. I genuinely care about serving my clients and taking care of their needs to the best of my ability. This is something I take very seriously. The images I take are my clients most precious moments of their lives and I always want to ensure that my clients have a great experience and that their memories are safe with me.
