Artistry by Amy: How a Dream Turned Into a Business

A Pacific Northwest Mom and Photographer

Hi, I'm Amy! A mom and photographer in the Pacific Northwest. Thank you so much for stopping by! I am so excited to start blogging and to share tips and tricks with moms like yourself so that you too can have the best family photo session ever. My goal for this blog is to share highlights from my recent sessions while providing ideas to help you prepare for family photo sessions. I also want to teach YOU how to take better photos of your own kids so that you too can freeze every moment.

Now, this blog is not "just" for moms. If you like having professional photos taken and want to have the best experience ever OR if you LOVE taking photos of your loved ones (even just on your iphone), this blog is for you!

Keep reading to hear how THIS mom with a love for photos had a big dream that grew into a small business.

Flash back to the late Summer of 2014. I was a young new mom with a sweet baby boy who was the center of my world. I had always loved family photos and taking photos of my loved ones. I naturally wanted to document the early years with my son and paid for multiple photography sessions to do so. Unfortunately, I found that a lot of the photographers I used were either not great with kids or not attentive to detail (hello bra strap hanging out in every picture or booger on a toddler's nose??)

I decided that I really needed (okay, "wanted") to learn how to take better pictures of my son and my family on my own. I got my first big girl camera which was still just kind of a small hybrid between a point and shoot and a dslr. However, I was in love. I taught myself through lots of youtube videos, articles I found on google, and lots and lots of trial and error.

By the time my third child was born I was ready to upgrade my camera and take my learning to the next level. I had spent the past couple of years taking photos for friends and family and really wanted to improve my skills so that I could share them with my community. I really wanted to be able to photograph other families so that I could freeze those special moments for other moms. The way your baby looks at you with such love, the tiny toes of your toddler, the gap toothed smile of your kindergartner, it all goes by too fast. I was ready to start capturing these memories for other families to cherish for a lifetime. I finally got up the courage to start a website and put out some model calls to take this hobby and passion to a potential "job."

Then. . . the pandemic happened. It felt really weird to start a small business when the world was shutting down. So, I waited a bit longer. I enrolled in another online course and spent my days at home with my kids washing laundry, cooking meals, playing with my kiddos, kissing booboos, and oh, completing hours upon hours of photography coursework. Since we were largely confined to our own house still at this point, my children again were subjected to being my little models. They may or may not have become slightly tired of having their photos taken. Finally in June of 2020, I realized covid wasn't going anywhere anytime soon and I applied for my business license and created my first website (more accurately, made my husband do it for me).

I am now a little over a year and a half into my business and I am blown away with what it has turned into. Last year I photographed close to 100 different families and I have been consistently booked these past few months of 2022 even with the nasty weather. I am so thankful for the support I have received from friends, family, and complete strangers! So many of my clients are people I have never met before that just appreciate my work and that is such an amazing feeling. It is HARD to put my art out there. It feels very raw and vulnerable. Yet, to have it be received with such love is a complete honor.

Another highlight from this past year was being featured on unscripted posing app multiple times. Unscripted is my go to photography app for planning out my poses and prompts for my sessions. It is so fun to see my work displayed alongside some really talented photographers! I am proud of where my little business has gone, and I am still trying to improve. I know there is so much left for me to learn and so much more room for growth in my art. I have recently begun some really wonderful new classes and I love filling my head with new knowledge in the wee hours of the morning when my house is finally quiet.

Although this first blog post was just to introduce you to how my photography business started, you can expect lots of tips and tricks to come in the future days, weeks, and months. If you want to learn how to take better pictures of your own family or just how to better style yourself or prepare for your professional photo session, please follow along! I can't wait to share more with you all!