Why I Love Photography

I think I have one of the most amazing jobs in the world as a wedding and boudoir photographer. I get to travel all over the province and see so many amazing places I might not have discovered on my own, and I get to do it with amazing people! People invite me into their lovely homes, or take me to their favourite local hang outs, and allow me to flex my creative muscles taking pictures for them. And an extra bonus, I get to attend really amazing and elaborate parties most weekends to celebrate love. There’s no better way to live life, in my opinion. There are so many amazing perks to being a wedding and boudoir photographer, but these actually aren’t the things that inspired me to start my business.

I am a naturally creative person, and I have always loved sharing my creative talents. Growing up I was always enrolled in one type of dance class or another. It was my favourite way to move and use up all my energy, and I continued dancing well into high school. In school I absolutely loved drama class, and I was most excited during other subjects when we had to divide into groups to create skits. Creative writing was another passion of mine, one I wanted to turn into a career for a long time. This was before I realized that writing books would cut into the very precious time that I devote to reading books! Even so, I went to a writing camp in Niagara four summers in a row and had such a great time practicing all different forms of creative writing. I have always loved any chance I have to be creative and testing my skills in all the various art forms. So I’ve always been very disappointed by my lack of skill when it came to traditional art forms like sketching or painting.

When I was younger I had so much fun drawing and painting, but I never had any real talent for it. I would take out instructional books on sketching or painting from the library and practice as best I could, but it was something that I never really improved at. For a while I found this discouraging, until I started learning more about all the different types of visual arts. This led me to discovering photography and developing quite a passion for it.

My first camera was technically borrowed from my dad, but I took it everywhere! It was just a point and shoot digital camera, the type that every parent had in the early two thousands, and I loved capturing special moments with it! I brought it to school and took silly pictures with all my friends, I brought it to summer camp where I tried to get creative in that artsy environment, I even brought it on walks with my dog so I could practice nature photography. What I lacked in technical skill and artistic vision I made up for with boundless enthusiasm.

I finally got to use my first good quality camera on a family vacation in British Columbia. It was once again borrowed from my dad, who gave me a quick lesson on aperture and shutter speed, before I started climbing rocks to get to the center of a rushing river we had stopped at. I had so much fun experimenting with angles and light in my attempt to get that perfect shot! And all the while my mom was getting behind the scenes shots of me living my creative dream, like the one below. (Check out the very cool ballet flat/patterned sock combo, LOL!) It was a sad moment when I had to return my dad’s camera and go back to taking pictures on my point and shoot, but I knew that would not be my last time creating gorgeous images.

I got a DSLR of my very own when I was twenty, right before my boyfriend and I left on a month long tour of Europe. I wanted to be able to capture stunning images of all the places I was going to see, and I planned to print many of my photos so I would have lasting memories of my first trip abroad. I had so much fun looking for cool shots on my trip, and I was so happy to have such a good camera in my hands. I took plenty of photos on that trip, but some of my favourites are down below.

As students my boyfriend and I loved to travel during our summer vacations, and I brought this camera on every trip I took! I am so glad that I learned this skill because now I have gorgeous photos that remind me of all the amazing times I’ve had abroad. These photos are so special to me because I am a very nostalgic person. I love having the ability to look through all my images and reminisce on all the cool people I’ve met and amazing things that I’ve seen!

But even after discovering how much I love to capture special moments on camera, I still hadn’t really thought about being a photographer. I studied Tourism Management in college, and History at university all with the intention of getting into tour design for students and adults. Unfortunately, I finally finished school right at the start of the pandemic and those kinds of jobs just weren’t available. Since I didn’t know when it would be safe to travel again, I started thinking about a change in career paths. Now this was tough to do because I was also planning my wedding. One day, after doing a phone consultation with my wedding photographer, I was talking to my husband, Ryan, about that being a dream job. Wedding photographers get to be creative, they get to travel all across the province or even the globe, they get to be a part of such a special day. And, like and idiot, I said to Ryan “I wish that I could do that.” When Ryan informed me that I could, in fact, be a wedding photographer it just felt right.

I spent so much time researching what the job required and doing practice shoots with friends, and I fell in love with a new type of photography. It brings me so much joy on a wedding day to capture all the emotional moments. Yes, the grand kisses are lovely but I also love to get shots of teary laughter during vow exchanges and the private happy glances your parents share! I find so much creative inspiration on a wedding day, I sometimes can’t believe how long it took for me to find this path.

As much as I adore shooting weddings, I also love the much more private nature of boudoir. I decided to become a boudoir photographer as well because that was something I had wanted as a bride. But as I began shooting boudoir I learned that I love watching a person become more confident in themselves right in front of my camera! One woman told me that being able to see herself the way that I saw her, and the way that I photographed her, improved her self-image so much. When she told me that I truly made her feel sexy and beautiful, it warmed my heart. And I knew that this was something I wanted to offer to as many people as possible. It is a very special gift to be able to lift someone’s self-esteem and help them fall in love with their body, and I take so much pride in being able to share this gift with my amazing clients!

I know this has been a pretty long post, and I thank you for having read this far! I hope you’ve gotten to know me a little better, and trust that I am so passionate about being a wedding and boudoir photographer. I love being able to share little details about myself on my blog so that my current and potential clients can get to know me better. I spend so much of my time getting to know you and I want you to also feel like you’re getting to know a friend!