Most people just assume, based off my work & passion for it, that photographer was the only thing I ever wanted to be. Well, would it shock you to know that there were actually, 5 things I wanted to be before I became a photographer?

Yep. I wanted to do so many things before I decided this was the right path for me to take. Some of them may actually shock you, and some of them you may not be surprised by.

Fashion Designer

Before anything else I wanted to be a fashion designer. I had a love for drawing, and the twin celebs I looked up to, I thought at least, had the most amazing style. (Pretty sure you can guess it was Mary-Kate & Ashley right?) Growing up we never really had the money to spend on the clothes I really wanted, so I took to designing my own clothing line.

I would create shirts, jeans, shorts, spaghetti strap shirts(these were all the rage when I was a kid), shoes, etc. I even called it Lucky 29. Which, looking back on that, it would’ve been copyright infringement as there was already a popular clothing company called Lucky, but I was too young to know any of that. I was so serious about this that I had decided I wanted to go to FIDM (Fashion Institute for Design & Merchandising) in California when I graduated high school. Sometimes I still dream about owning my clothing line, and making clothes specifically designed for petite, curvy women like myself. Maybe……..maybe one day it will come full circle.

Portrait/Digital Artist

This next one may not be that shocking at all, but I wanted to be a portrait artist or something of the like. I always loved my art classes, and they challenged me to see things differently. That art was subjective to the person.

I was never actually good at drawing realism, but maybe if I had kept at it I would be creating amazing works of art like Enstatia. (I actually purchased one of her pieces.) Although my style seemed to be more towards the anime style of drawing people or characters or abstract art. (As you can see below)

I still love drawing, actually it’s more like doodling plants in my journal these days, but I would really love to get back into it again.

Bridal Gown Designer

Okay, so this one definitely is not a shock, but I wanted to be a bridal gown designer. I was always so moved by Vera Wangs creations, and when I was growing up all the ladies wanted her gowns. You can watch the rom-com’s of the early 2000’s and listen to all the ladies fawning over Vera Wang.

And of course with me previously wanting to be a fashion designer I thought why not try to design wedding gowns?? I was already obsessed with love, and all things wedding related. Although I’m pretty glad I dropped this one, and pretty quickly too, because I think this one was wayyyy off base for me.

Singer/Songwriter

This one was everyone’s dream when they were a kid, but a professional singer/song writer. Much like Taylor Swift I grew up loving the written word, and poetry. English and creative writing were always my best subjects in school, so I thought I would try my hand at writing love songs, and poems that I could turn into songs.

I have so many songs that I had written, which I realize now, are probably not that good, but I love looking back at them just the same. And yes I was always an emo kid. When I say it was never just a phase, I mean it was never just a phase. 😊 It was just the best way for me to express whatever I was feeling at the time. To get it all out on paper, and not hold on to it too tightly.

(Let’s all notice the hot pink gel pen this was written in. Any guesses as to which year in school I wrote this in? I have no clue because I didn’t put a date on it.)

I’m still the same today I just stick to writing in the privacy of my journal now.

Business Owner/Entrepreneur

This one, well, I am this today, but I always had wanted to be a business owner. I from a very young age, knew I never really wanted to work for someone ese, I just didn’t know what kind of business I wanted to run.

I had grown up with watching my dad run his own wholesale & retail car business with my grandpa. As a treat, sometimes he would bring a car home, especially if he was interested in buying it for the family. I thought it was so exciting that he could do that.

He set his own hours, which in reality, he worked a lot of late evenings, and some nights wouldn’t come home from car sales until almost 12/1 a.m.

And even though that business crumbled within a few years, because of some mistakes my grandpa has made, it didn’t make me scared or deter me from wanting to do something like that.

From owning something that I could call mine. I had tried my hand at crafting & making things to sell (they were not very good at all, in hindsight), I had tried my hand at re-selling on Ebay (disaster!), etc.

You’d think I would’ve stopped, but there was always something inside, whispering, & gently pushing at me to just keep going.

And that’s where we find ourselves today, with my own wedding & portrait photography business. It’s not been an easy journey by any means, but it has it’s own rewards. I get to help preserve memories of different milestones in life for generations to come. And I get to do it by simply telling your story with imagery.

So in a way, the writing, and artistry I had wanted when I was younger is still there, I’m just using a different medium to express it with.

If you are coming from my social media accounts, did any of these surprise you at all??

If you’re new here, well, welcome! I’m glad you’re getting to know me a little bit better before you see the rest of my website and blog-space. 😊

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