Delaware Professional Portrait Photographer: How My Story Began

Welcome to my revamped website. With my photography evolving into new directions I thought it was time to start completely fresh with a whole new site. Now I feel that this now really represents me and where my work is now. Hitting the reset button in ways has made me reflect back to where this journey as a Delaware professional photographer started for me four to five years ago. And that story is easily the first thing that I want to write about.

I’ve been into photography for a very long time, getting my first camera in the late part of elementary school back in the late 1970’s. Throughout my journey, there were times where other were very kind in complimenting my work and suggested that I pursue this professionally. While grateful for the compliments I could only think of how much I didn’t know about the craft and didn’t think I was ready for such a big move. Over the years, the encouragement and compliments became more and more frequent and still I just wasn’t sure if making that jump as a professional was something that I could accomplish.

That mindset did completely change for me several years ago unexpectedly when leaving my house one morning to run an errand. My neighbor was outside and said hello and said to me, “Hey, I wanted to say something about the recent photographs that you shared on Facebook”. I was ready for him to say something complimentary about my work and was prepared to be grateful and humble, even if I didn’t think that the pictures were anything special. But he surprised me and said something a little different that I will always remember. “If you don’t mind me saying so, I think you may have found your calling.”

After thanking him, I got into my car and I couldn’t stop thinking about what he had said at the end. It wasn’t about the end result of my work, or whether or not my pictures were good enough to be a professional. He had commented in a way that made me start thinking about the “process” of photography and not just the end result. Was photography and connecting with clients something that I enjoyed doing? Would it be something that I could be passionate about and something to replace my second job?

From earlier conversations, my neighbor knew that my work/life balance had been out of whack for some time. I’m not sure if he knew it or not but he had worded his compliments in a way that framed everything differently for me and got me to look at it from a new perspective. And I decided then to take the plunge and turn my passion into a business, which was one of the best decisions I have ever made. You see, even at 50+, you can make changes in your life and course correct to a new direction in life. I have discovered that my neighbor was absolutely right – becoming a Delaware professional photographer has been a true passion for me and has been my calling that I wish I had explored earlier.