Where My Journey Began
For me, I always feel like your professional experience with a person is better when you know more about them. These first few blog posts will be the story of how I got to where I am at now as a photographer and some of the milestone steps along the way.
Photography for me always seemed like it was just out of reach. I always wanted to get into photography, but the money was an issue for me. That stopped mattering one day when a good friend of mine was upgrading his own personal camera and gifted me his rather than just throwing it out. Although this was just a basic starter body and kit lens, it was all I needed to be hooked.
During this time I was managing a paintball store, so naturally I began learning new techniques and methods by using the products at my disposal. I also started taking pictures at the field to practice on fast moving objects and people. As I slowly learned and got better I began to get new lenses to help capture better images. While I wasn't struggling, I realized I was limited by the equipment I had.
Word had started to get out that I was looking to expand my photography work and this is where my first real opportunity came into play. A regular customer at the store I ran was looking for someone to take pictures at a charity concert he was putting on and asked me if I was interested. I agreed, but also let him know I didn't have much experience with that type of photography. He said he was ok with it and told me whatever I got would be just fine. I ended up getting some pretty good shots and learned a lot of valuable lessons in how to set up my camera.
Not long after I started to get some good shots with paintball events, a good friend of mine that was really into BMX asked me to come out and take some shots of him and his friends riding. I got invited to a private event for someone's birthday at the local indoor skatepark (pictured above, thanks to my friend David Berding) for a bunch of the local BMX riders. This turned out to be a huge learning experience in dealing with low light situations as well as being aware of my surroundings since there was always someone speeding by or jumping over me. This lead to a few other opportunities shooting other BMX and skateboarding events that would come to benefit me later on.
Until next time!