Photo by Tec Petaja

But the Lord provided abundantly for us after weeks and months of praying for good jobs. The week after we got home from our honeymoon, David got a job offer on Friday and I got a job offer the following Monday. Whew! Crisis averted.

I worked fulltime on different digital media projects at an agency: email marketing, website design, content management updates to websites, etc. I am so thankful for the opportunities that I was introduced to while at that job, I learned SO much — it was like a crash course in all things technology that I would need to run my photo biz.

But all the while I had a desire to grow my photography skills & learn more about my craft. Up to this point in my life I had been a Canon-Rebel-toting-photography-hobbyist (which, there is NOTHING wrong with that, I just knew that I wanted more!). Sure, I had an eye for good composition, I could capture a great moment and my fine art travel photography was good. But I never felt sure of myself or of how I would nail a great photo in any lighting condition.

Enter into the story an amazing mentor: Becky Byrd. Becky befriended me one Sunday morning at church because I was taking pictures and she introduced herself as a fellow photographer. It was like friendship at first sight… haha! From that point on it was such a fabulous experience… having a mentor is indescribable. Being able to ask ANY question, no matter how dumb I felt was liberating. The very first time we met she mentioned a photography group called PUG and I knew that I had to go!

Becky also explained this thing called post-processing to me and then we went to a class taught by the great Whitney Carlson of Dove Wedding Photography. Sure, I knew that I should edit my photos but I didn’t have a workflow. I would just pick random pictures that I thought needed a little “umph” and then I’d open them in Photoshop, move some of the dials/settings around until I liked it and then VOILA!! Whitney explained in depth about her workflow and what good post-processing should be.

OK, so I had my post-processing workflow down, I had my community of photographers in place, I was networking my butt off with other photographers but how do I actually run a business??

I definitely soaked up all good info like it was a sponge! I listened to every good podcast I could find, and I would listen to Ask Dane by Dane Sanders as he would interview guests from the perspective of “Just starting out,” which was exactly what I needed. I would ask my photographer friends, “How did you know when it was the right time to go fulltime?”

Knowing the right time for me was hard, but one day it just kind of happened. Hubby and I had been talking about it for months but there never seemed like the perfect moment. What it boiled down to for me was that I was completely exhausted. I was so tired from doing two fulltime jobs & as my photography business kept building I realized that I was having to turn down amazing opportunities because of my fulltime job. So we had a good talk one night and just thought that it had finally come time. That God was leading us into a new big adventure, full of big photoshoots, beautiful weddings, chubby babies and wonderful clients.

So, last week I gave my two weeks notice and March 15th will be my first day as a fulltime photographer!! I’m really looking forward to what God has in store for hubby and I as we make this huge leap of faith!

I have very VERY big dreams of what this is going to look like and I’m sure it’s not going to be easy. I hope that documenting my journey into fulltime photography will help you in your process, wherever you are. I know that we can always be learning! One day I’d like to start a photography mentor program of some sort, since that’s been the best way for me to learn all that I know up to now. I’d love to setup great photographers with starting out photographers with huge potential & see where it takes us. If that’s an interest to you, comment below and I’ll add your email & info to my growing mentor list. I have more dreams but that’s the one that’s been on my heart lately!

This is just a sneak peak of the photos, there are many more to come this weekend! Checkout this amazing bridesmaids dress & stay tuned for more!

I am going to go into much greater detail about some aspects of our recent Washington DC trip (like visiting a Nature Photography exhibit, seeing Julia Child’s kitchen and more!) but for now here are some snapshots of things we loved and places we thought were beautiful.

After I was done, I looked at it and said, “Wow! I really like beautiful architecture!” Perhaps that’s why Europe is my favorite, so many amazingly beautiful buildings are everywhere.

Becoming friends with other local photographers has helped me with every single aspect of my business. I’m fortunate in the fact that Nashville has a huge and wonderful photography community that I’ve just jumped into head first. I love going to our Nashville PUG and SmugMug meetings. The first several times I went I would go and listen and anything that they said that I had never heard of (lighting techniques, lenses, camera bodies) I would write them down and go home and read them. These groups are an amazing way to hear success stories from other photographers & see how it can relate to your business.

Groups I go to monthly:

• Nashville Pictage User Group
• Nashville SmugMug

If you live in the Nashville area and are a photographer, I hope you can make it to these meetings and come introduce yourself!

Community with Photographers | Fridays with Kristen from Kristen Steele on Vimeo.

So I went. Wait, you didn’t think I was actually going to tell you did you?? That’s half the fun.

But no really, it was a soul-searching day of re-discovering what my purpose is, what I’m passionate about and how to live my life well. Sure, I talked about my photography & sure my business goals were thrown in there too, but it was definitely a visionary experience.

Here’s a quote that pretty much sums up what I’m feeling right now & the direction I want to head in:

“Here’s the truth about telling stories with your life. It’s going to sound like a great idea, and you are going to get excited about it, and then when it comes time to do the work, you’re not going to want to do it. It’s like that with writing books, and it’s like that with life. People love to have lived a great story, but few people like the work it takes to make it happen. But joy costs pain.”

-Donald Miller from A Million Miles in a Thousand Years (p.99-100)

I’m going to save all of my specific answers to those questions & what I specifically learned for a future blog post, but for now I’ll give you this little video recap of my MAKING THINGS HAPPEN experience… Stay tuned for a new feature on the blog called “Fridays with Kristen” where I’ll do a little video blog about stuff I’ve been learning, awesome new photography tips or tricks, things that inspire me and I might answer questions (if anyone has any!). So if you like that idea and you have a question already, go ahead and ask it in the comments section!

Making Things Happen 2010 | Nashville from Kristen Steele on Vimeo.

Also, stay tuned to the blog because Sara Marie and I have a big photoshoot this weekend and I’ll be posting pictures of her fabulous dresses soon!

This morning my friends Chris & Adrienne Scott invited me to go sledding in our neighborhood… yes, I said sledding. It was AMAZING! I felt like I was 5 years-old again and it was fantastic.

Both of those photos by Chris Scott.

We all had the best time sledding down this huge hill in our neighborhood!

Then we ran across the most adorable family, with their twin boys in laundry baskets sliding around on the ice!! They were the CUTEST things I had ever seen, like little snow bunnies.

He is definitely the motivational speaker for photographers. He asked all of the photographers (there were thousands!) the question: Do you remember why you started taking pictures?

For me, I started taking pictures to capture the amazing moments that I had with my family. I know that I was a big picture-taker in elementary and middle school. Then, finally in high school I asked my parents for a “nice” camera. Thankfully, I have parents who love and support me and had the ability to see that my picture taking wasn’t just a fading hobby, but much more than that. I know that the treasured moments we share with our family and friends pass by all too quickly and if we don’t document them, they could fade away.

I don’t want those special moments to pass by for you or your family. I have a heart for people, I love to become part of your family for a day, get in your world, find out what you’re passionate about and capture all of the emotions that come with those things.

He called letting life pass you by “going on automatic.” For photographers, when we shoot in automatic mode, it means we’re not in control, we can’t manually adjust the settings to make the photo the way we want. So for a life-analogy, not going on automatic means living your life awake at the wheel, being alive and active in every aspect of your life and going ALL IN on anything that you’re doing.

So for 2010: I’m going ALL IN. I am taking my photography to a whole new level. I’ve had some amazing mentors over the past 6 months walking with me, helping me learn more about the craft of photography, learn more about how to run a successful luxury photography studio and to treat your clients the best. Bottom line: you’ll see changes in how I do things and all for the better.

This shot is taken in front of my lovely friend Jordan’s house {shoutout!} when it felt like zero degrees.