A Step in the Right Direction

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."

I mentioned in an earlier post that my dream is to make a living as a photographer capturing beautiful moments and freezing them in time for the enjoyment of generations to come.  I didn't know how or when that would start, but within the past month I have stumbled upon a discovery that, although many have probably already known, was something new to me. It turns out that if you let your dreams and aspirations out of your head and heart, and into the world, something will happen.

To announce my dreams to others was always a fear of mine. I feared that if I let them made known and then never saw them to completion, I would be looked at as a failure.  But what I have discovered is that when our dreams are made known, others are more than willing to help you make your dreams a reality!

By mentioning my love for photography, and my desire to turn my hobby into a career to others, doors have been opened in ways I never imagined. Most recently, the staff at St. Mary's Academy asked me to do the school pictures this year. I was elated to say the least! My first real photography job! So with my far-from-professional equipment and some backgrounds I bought at the Goodwill, I arrived at St. Mary's on "Picture Day" full of excitement and anxiety. Excitement that I got to spend a day doing what I loved doing, and anxiety over the thought that I wouldn't be able to do it well enough.


I started with Sr. Bernardine Marie's class, the K-2nd graders. They were exceptionally cooperative! One by one, I had them climb up onto the stool, show me their grandest smiles, and hop on down. The middle grades, 3-5th graders, were next and were also pretty easy subjects, despite the fact that they had to sit very still because I didn't have the best lighting and couldn't use my flash on account of the undesirable dark shadow that would appear behind their heads.


Finally, the 6-8th graders. Is it possible that students become more immature as they age? They seemed to come with two goals in mind:  not to smile, and to act as if getting their pictures taken was absolute torture! Despite their resistance, I captured their smiles (or at least their 'trying-not-to-smile' smiles), and sent them on their way.

By the end of the day, I felt I had what it takes. A dream. That is all it takes. Well, a dream and the courage to share that dream with others. I won't make a dime for myself for the work put in to the final product, but I will have hopefully earned Saint Mary's enough money for the yearbooks (which I have been asked to help with!) and I earned experience, the most valuable asset of all.