Meet Deborah
The boring stuff
Ok, so I find talking about myself boring, but it is important to know where someone came from to know where they are headed.
When it came to photography, I had talked about doing it since I was in high school. I loved the idea of freezing a perfect moment in time or seeing something in the perfect light and capturing it. But I never chased that dream.
Instead, I got married and had kids at a young age. My two boys became my whole world. My husband is a full-time worker while I made sure our boys were taken care of. I would do odd jobs here and there (I feel that I've worked in about every industry there is!) but never found the one thing that kept me excited about working. The closest I came, was being a Zumba instructor. Although I LOVE to dance, it would not pay the bills.
Hello dream
One Sunday while attending Crosspoint Church, Jeremy Cowart was the guest speaker. I later found out that he is a huge deal in the photography world. He did a speech called "I'm Possible" (This speech is on YouTube, go watch it), and as he spoke he dusted off that dream inside of me to go after my dream of being a photographer again. My mom and stepdad even bought me a camera for my birthday to follow my dream. However, the camera didn't have all the bells and whistles to get the look I wanted while shooting. (Professional photography equipment is really expensive, especially when only one parent is working full time.) So I got a full-time job and did a little practicing here and there but nothing major.
A little oops became a huge blessing
So here is where things get interesting. I wish I could say that my life is a fairy tale and everything just worked out, but life doesn't work that way sometimes and God really did a lot of work on me over the last several years.
My husband and I were going through some pretty hard times and I was unhappy about a lot of things in my life. Then we find out I was pregnant with our third child. To say I was shocked would be an understatement. My boys were 11 and 8 at the time. I was done with babies. I'm pretty sure God rolled his eyes at my thoughts. With the birth of our baby girl, I was back at home and once again working a part-time job. I still wanted to pursue photography. I was home now, why not!! But again, how was I going to buy a camera?
Well, the restaurant where I was working at the time had a lip sync contest at their Christmas Party, with a $500 prize!! I also worked with two people who were part-time photographers and we talked about equipment and all things photography. Do you see all the help God was sending me?! I entered the contest. The kicker? No one knew I used to teach Zumba. Check out the videos of the two routines. After the first performance, I was able to move on with three other groups and finally won the contest!! I went home that night and bought my first real camera.
What i'm doing today.
I have been blessed to have people in my life who have helped move me in the right direction. I have purchased education courses and have been photographing anything and everything, narrowing down my craft so that I can perfect it. Although photography is an art, you can always learn new ways to do things, which is one reason I love it so much. I also love being around people. Making my clients smile, laugh, and deliver beautiful images just gives me all the good feelings in the world.
I give back to God by using my gift and volunteering at church and other events throughout the year.
If you have read this far, thank you for taking the time to get to know a little about me. I look forward to meeting, learning about, and serving you.