July 31, 2010 my college friend and I took a road trip to Powell Gardens. To be honest, I was only looking for a chance to get away from my studies for a day. I had no idea that this trip would be the start of something special.
The garden was one of the prettiest things I’ve seen: fields of greenery, arches and paths decorated with flowers, ponds with giant lily pads….everything that made the nature lover in me sing. I had never thought to shoot anything but fun moments with my friends before that day, but found myself capturing hundreds of images of everything around me. Now that I think of it…..it was the first time I realized I had an eye for photography.
I’ve been surrounded by cameras most of my life. My parents were big on snapping and filming candids while we were younger. I remember going through our old photo albums and home videos fascinated with the memories they captured. When I was old enough, they began allowing me to operate their cameras and by the time I was in high school I was requesting my own for my birthday. My sophomore year of college I was gifted a 12mp Canon Powershot camera. (Can you believe that just 10 years ago 12mp was an “impressive” megapixel count?) It was with this camera that I photographed all the scenery at Powell Gardens.
In the years to follow, photography has gone from being a fun hobby to a serious job. Though I wouldn’t give up the weddings I’ve captured and clients I’ve met shooting portraits all over the city, at times I feel my fire for photography dwindling. The demands of wedding days, pressure to deliver impressive work each time and sometimes unreasonable/unappeasable clients has made me go weeks without even glancing at my camera at times. For a while, taking photos just wasn’t fun….and I hated I felt that way about something I once loved so much.
I made it one of my goals for the year to do more photography projects for FUN. I’ve been snapping moments at all my family gatherings, bringing my camera to coffee dates with friends and forcing myself to shoot more creatively. Naturally, when my friend randomly proposed we take a trip to Powell Gardens I couldn’t refuse it. From the moment I walked in, I felt like I was at home; for the first time in two years, I felt inspired to shoot.
After months of dreading the editing process, I couldn’t believe how anxious I was to get my photos uploaded to begin working on them. I’ve included some of the shots that make me smile when I look at them. I’m printing off several to hang on my walls and hope they’ll be constant reminders of why I fell in love with photography in the first place.
I feel like I’m discovering my passion all over again and I couldn’t be happier about it.
Until next time…
