WHY I BECAME A BRANDING PHOTOGRAPHER

I always wanted to be my own boss. But my journey to entrepreneurship was neither linear nor simple.

I wasn’t always clear about what my passion was. My career path started out a little rocky because I felt lost in my young years. All I knew was that I wanted to do something “cool”. So my story goes something like this...

I originally went to College for interior design but didn’t really end up working in that field much as I quickly became jaded with my first “boss from hell” experience. From then on I just couldn’t seem to find my way in that field. So for a couple of years, I worked in the retail industry, which was far from my dream career.

I ended up going back to school for hotel management and worked in that field for a couple of years.

One thing led to another and I ended up purchasing and operating a Subway franchise with my husband and we ran that for two years. It turned out to be disastrous for many reasons but the biggest lesson was that you’re not really your own boss with a franchise. And it was becoming increasingly clear to me that what I wanted most was to be my own boss. 

After finally closing doors on the franchise disaster, it was back to the drawing board. So I went back to work in hotels. However, I hated my job each and every single day so I knew I had to figure out something else. 

Through many years of trials and tribulations, I learned that I was a bit rebellious at heart and hated being told what to do. So I knew I had to figure out a way to work for myself. I went on a mission to live a freedom-based life and decided the best way to do that was to try out different things and see what stuck. 

I eventually started playing with creative projects on the side. First, I made some jewellery, and when I wore it to work, my co-workers became interested and started asking if they could get some. Happily, I obliged and made them some custom designs! That’s how I first started earning some cash for my creative projects.

Later, I started to feel like this space was getting saturated so I moved on to something else. This time I decided to make some natural handmade soap. And this ended up being my first creative business for three and a half years! I made all kinds of bath and body products and sold them at craft shows, online, and at small boutique shops. It was great while it lasted, I was quite good at creating unique products but after a while, it started to get exhausting.

For one thing, I knew I never wanted to have employees again after the Subway blip. However, the work was getting to be too much for one person, especially if I wanted to grow. So I made the hard decision to call it quits and try something else.

It was during the year 2015 when two major events shifted the way I was thinking at the time. The first event was me going on a 10-day Vipassana silent meditation retreat, and the second was signing up for Marie Forleo’s B-School program.

Those two things gave me a lot of clarity and motivation about how to move forward in my career. It became evident to me that what I truly wanted was a freedom-based, location-independent business. Not any brick-and-mortar type of business, not one where I’d need employees but one that I could run on my own from anywhere I wanted.

At first, I did some VA work including social media management and graphic design. Then I started designing Squarespace websites because I fell in love with the platform after having changed my own website so many times!

After doing that for a while, finally… I turned to photography!

The funny thing is that I always found photography interesting, even when I was a child. I still remember my excitement when I got my first disposable camera. (Remember those?) I even took a class in high school and loved it. But, for some reason, I heard too many negative stories about how hard it was to be a photographer and I was afraid to get into it. So for most of my life, I kept it as a hobby.

Well, let me tell you, I finally realized that everything is as easy or as hard as you make it out to be. And the so-called “competition” that I was so afraid of existed in every field I ever touched. So I finally decided that if I was going to be putting so much effort into succeeding at a career, I might as well put in the effort into what I was truly passionate about. 

Then I started experimenting with different genres of photography to figure out what my niche was going to be. One thing I knew immediately was that I was not interested in wedding photography. Too much stress! 

As I was taking on my first photography projects, it quickly became clear to me that I still wanted to be involved in the “entrepreneur world”. That’s why it was a no-brainer that branding photography would be my specialty. After all, I really wanted to work with other entrepreneurs because I’ve always felt like those were my peeps! Talk about relating to someone!

I decided to add personal branding photography to my services in 2018. And at first, I was doing photo sessions alongside Squarespace web design projects. But after a while, I made photography my main focus.

And that’s how and why I became a personal branding photographer! Ever since I discovered this was my passion all along, it’s felt like I finally came home, and I have stuck with it, even through COVID!

Yes, I love other photography genres too, such as travel photography. But for now, I’m keeping brand photography as my main focus (which includes lifestyle, portraits, and product photography). Eventually, I plan on working on other projects. One of my goals is to create and publish a photo book someday. But that’s a story for another time.

For now, this is my story of why and how I became a branding photographer.

Want to work with me? Get in touch :)