Today, I am not only celebrating my birthday; I am also marking the anniversary of the day I became a professional photographer! 36 years ago today I photographed my first wedding and launched a career. I was turning 17 and had worked all summer mowing lawns and playing guitar and singing at Jim's Steak House in Pampa to pay my parents back for the new Mamiya/Sekor DTL500 camera that they had bought for me at the first of the summer.
I also spent all summer reading the camera manual - and everything else I could find - to learn how to make the camera do what I wanted it to do. There were no shortcuts or automatic exposure options. I had to learn how to manually set the camera's aperture and f/stop for the proper exposure and I had to learn how to use an off-camera flash that had to be set manually, too. Fortunately, film was fairly cheap and processing wasn't terribly expensive either, so I shot film, sent it to a lab, got it back and tried to figure out what I had done right and what I had done wrong. Then, I would go shoot more film! Sort of like that whole shampoo ritual - "lather, rinse, repeat." It was work, but also rewarding and fun!
So, when my aunt called me a few weeks before my birthday to ask me if I would photograph my cousin's wedding on August 16, I jumped at the chance. When you are 16 going on 17, you think you can do anything! I now realize that it had little to do with my wonderful photographic ability. I got hired because I had a camera and I was cheap!
Obviously, I didn't really know what I was doing, but I learned by taking classes and working for other photographers. I improved my skills and eventually launched my own business. Looking back, I am grateful for that first opportunity. I love my profession and I love that I have been so blessed over the last 36 years.
Thanks to all of you who have allowed me to be your photographer! I look forward to many more years helping create precious memories just for you!
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