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...I haven't rambled on in quite sometime so I think maybe I'm overdue. I was thinking today about how lucky I've been with the opportunities I've been given. Photography has always been something I LOVED doing. It's a sense of serenity for me...almost a spirituality of sorts. When my son was born almost 14 years ago, my passion kicked into overdrive. My child may be the most photographed child on the planet; well...at least on my block. Somewhere along the line I started taking pictures for friends - just for fun. I found that their reactions to the pictures gave me so much joy that I just wanted to keep taking them. The problem for me came when people wanted to start paying me for my "work". I didn't see it as pay-worthy...it was just something I loved to do. Plus the fact that with payment comes expectation and I'm TERRIFIED of letting people down. Seriously. It's a problem. To this day I struggle with feeling like maybe someone is going to figure out that I really don't know what I'm doing. Truth is, though, that if I look at where I started and where I am today, I kind of DO know what I'm doing. I try to look objectively at photos that I've taken. There are ones that I love and ones that I wish I had done better. The annoying part for my husband is when I look at a picture that I've done and say "that looks like a REAL picture! Like a professional one!"...to which he always says "they ARE professional...sheesh!". It's a hurdle that I'm still trying to overcome. I always said I couldn't take pictures for money...and now I am. I always said there's no way I could do a wedding....and, again, I am. There are so many things that I limited myself from because of fear. Don't get me wrong, it's still there...but now I try to push myself to see if maybe I CAN do something I didn't think I could. One of the greatest lessons I've learned along the way is this: Know your strengths and play to them. Acknowledge what you perceive to be weaknesses and don't be held back by them. There are areas of photography that I will not excel at...not because I can't eventually learn, but because they are not where my passions lie. Find what you love to do and don't be afraid to try it! You never know where it could take you...