With the new year having just started I wanted to look back on my 2020 journey. This was a long one. It was a roller coaster. So many ups and downs but over all even with what terrible things happened in this world I had an amazing year and probably the best year yet for this little business. I met so many amazing new people, made so many new connections and friends through photography and created masterpiece after masterpiece. Sorry to toot my own horn…. not sorry.
So here is a look at my journey
and some of my favourite photos of the year.
I started this year diving head first into photography as my main source of income. I had quit bartending/serving the past June enjoying my summer and was ready to create my dream job. 2020 started with a bang I had my first ever “in-home” sessions. Both of which were with close friends of mine and in my opinion were some of my best images to date.
To continue the highs of 2020 I got to shoot at the Edmonton Ice Castles twice with some amazing clients. The interesting part of looking back on my year is I totally thought I did these sessions in 2019 but turns out I didn’t. This has been a LOOOONNNGG year.
Following these I left for Mexico, and had a wonderful get away with my family and friends. There was 10 of us and lets just say far to many margaritas and mojitos were enjoyed. I came back from Mexico and had my FIRST wedding of 2020. This day was absolutely magical. Cassie and Curtis are free-spirited and hilarious. I can honestly say I have never laughed so hard and so much during a wedding ceremony. I loved that these two did their day their way and it was very stress free. The venue is @studio96 , makeup done by @makeupbylita and hair by @cassandrabrehair.
And then…. COVID hit… and hit hard….
I felt the impact of covid 19 very early on cause we had just got back from Mexico and 12 days later my mom got sick. She didn’t have covid but since we had just been out of the country she had to get tested and since I live in the same house as her I cancelled the boudoir session I had planned awaiting results.
We all know where this progresses. So many restrictions, lockdowns and a world wide pandemic. I watched EVERY single one of my weddings for 2020 get pushed to 2021, I am thankful that only one wedding got fully cancelled and can’t wait for all my 2021 Brides. But the wedding above was my FIRST and LAST wedding of 2020.
I cried.
a lot.
Literally spent so much time crying to my boyfriend about how in the world I was going to financially do this. There was an issue with me getting money from the government so I was struggling. Shout out to my parents for letting me live rent free, feeding me, and everything else.
I was so angry I dived into this and it was all falling apart around me.
Then my friend texted me about how she was so upset she couldn’t walk the stage for her university grad or get pictures done. To cheer her up we did a session with a cap and gown. I loved these. I loved her because it inspired me again.
I offered more of these, got some interest, made some money. ( and no money isn’t everything but it helps to pay bills.) Mostly I got inspired. My summer was pretty slow, but I started to dream about fall, and put out on my story a discount for a session at the corn maze. Shoutout to Bella and Brayden because I had never received so many inquiries then after posting this image. This image alone changed my year.
Here’s just a few more pictures from Bella and Brayden’s session since it is still one my favourite sessions of the year.
For the rest of August and September I offered 50% off weeknight sessions. I made the most money I had ever made off of photography in September while doing a 50% off promotion.
I cried again
But this time happy tears! I shot pretty much 30 days straight in September but it was so worth it.
Here is a photo dump of some of my favourite images from this time.
Following September I saw an EXTREME amount of growth, and finally felt like I had found my editing style. October was just as amazing.
More photo dumps!
In October we got our first snowy day, which made for an epic engagement. Winter images are beautiful but are far more difficult in my opinion because I pull so many warm tones in my images.
Once winter hit I knew I would slow down everyone loves fall photos, I was scared about my income but I still had a decent amount of turn out. I went back to serving to make some extra money and I took this time to explore boudoir. I rebooked the boudoir session I had to cancel so long ago and did some portfolio building. I started my boudoir Instagram and got like 500 followers over night. I have had tons of interest in boudoir. I won’t be posting those images in this post as I know not everyone wants to see them. But here is a photo dump of my November sessions.
December our numbers were rising again and I closed down for the rest of the year just to be extra safe. I also got laid off my serving job but thats alright because Im ready to only do photography again. But to end the year off I had a very special surprise proposal. Brayden and me had been in talks trying to plan this for awhile but covid kept derailing our plans. But it doesn’t matter because what did happen was just as amazing!
And I can now cross off surprise purposes off my photography bucket list.
Thank you for following along on this journey.
I had such an amazing year, by the end of 2020 I felt like I was actually a “real” photographer and man am I looking forward to 2021. My goals for 2021 include more weddings (hopefully) more baby announcement photos cause I love them, more connections with clients, more memories and just more love!