Hello! Thanks for checking out my Blog!! The main purpose of my blog will be to share my journey of getting my business up and running as well as my adventures as I take on photography as a professional and of course, my work itself! Before I dive into all that, I wanted to take my first entry to introduce myself and tell you a little bit about how I got into photography - don't worry, I won't ramble on too long : )
Chances are if you're reading this, you already know me. However, I am going to go with the off chance that I am going to attract new readers(hey, a girl can hope, right?) and begin by telling you that I am married to wonderfully supportive husband, we have two beautiful children and I run the most amazing little preschool around.
(It wouldn't be a photography blog without pictures, right?)
Photography is something that my Grandfather introduced to me when I was a teenager and he unfortunately passed away soon after. His passing was a push for me to get into photography as it helped me feel close to him. This led me to take a photography class in high school. This was a really neat experience for me as I was able to use my Grandfathers manual Nikon SLR.
These are two of the pictures that I took with that very camera! Not only were these taken with a manual slr, but I developed them by hand in a dark room(they were also uploaded with my i phone, so don't mind the quality). Developing pictures in a dark room was something that I absolutely LOVED. In another life with endless amounts of time and money, I would invest in my own dark room and enjoy the simplicity of a manual camera on a regular basis : )
Soon after this, Mike, my husband, bought me my first digital SLR! Surprisingly, I did no jump right in and get to work with it and I couldn't really tell you why. It wasn't until I had my daughter, Savannah(Savvy for short) in 2009 that I really broke the camera out and got to work. During my maternity leave with her, I invested in equipment- flash, backdrop, editing software, etc - and told myself that I was going to be a photographer. Looking back, I'm actually really surprised by the amount of work that I had and how successful I was in my venture. Unfortunately, I reached a point in my life, where life just got too busy and again, I stopped taking pictures. I picked up the camera on and off again, but never really stuck with it, life just kept getting in the way!
Well, here I am today, and I'm saying that life isn't going to get in the way anymore. I won't lie, my life is BUSY(what I wouldn't do for 8 day week!), but I need to make time for the things that are good for my soul. The things that I do for pure joy; not because anyone is telling me to or because I feel like I have to do it for someone else. Things that I do simply because I want to. I just love having my camera in hand, finding the little moments that are often long forgotten, freezing smiles of pure joy forever in time and capturing memories that will last people a life time.
This time around, I'm not going to let anything force me to put my camera down and I'm confident enough to make that commitment publicly(well,to the few, and hopefully growing audience that I have). I am so excited with the direction that I am headed and the things that will be happening with Jessica Ray Photography and I cannot wait to share it!
