I have been shooting "professionally" for some pretty amazing people for almost a year now, but I've carried a camera with me for as long as I can remember. It wasn't until I used this tool to capture and freeze a moment in my children's lives that I realized exactly how powerful a tool it was. Memories, they're those things that with time disappear from our minds and become vague recollections of what we think our lives were. But it's the camera that has the power to sustain a memory long after you have forgotten what that moment in your life was, or forgotten it was even a moment at all. One of my absolute favorite quotes by someone unknown is "Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever...it remembers little things long after you have forgotten everything." A camera is powerful! For lack of a more profound word, I would say I am so blessed to be doing what I do. People put their trust in me to photograph them, and not just to take a picture but to give them something they will look at with great joy and smile when they remember that particular moment in their life and are brought right back to it as if it were happening all over again. What a gift to give! I really got heavy into photography when my husband had to work in Chicago for three months following the birth of our second child. I was a stay-at-home mom with a one month old and an eighteen month old who wanted to make sure her husband didn't miss a moment of our babies' lives. It was then that I started photographing our kids every day, several times a day, posting the pictures and written accounts of our goings on for him to see and be a part of. It was difficult to be away from him for so long, but it would have been more difficult for him had he been "left out of the loop" on what his children were doing while he was away. It was these moments, these powerful yet everyday memories that led me to where I am today. My husband says I gave him a tremendous gift with my daily pictures. It made being away from his family a little bit easier. It's truly amazing to know that my pictures did that :0) I knew that with his words of love and encouragement that the step into a professional area of photography was the next one for me to take. And here I am not even a year later enjoying a successful business built on loving people who believed in me and inspired me to push forward and pursue what I loved and what they felt was beautiful. To each and every person who took a chance and hired me in those early days I say thank you. You are the rock that I built my business upon and I couldn't think of a better bunch of people to be my foundation, not only in my business but in my life. I am stepping out into larger ventures, adding weddings to my list of services. I am eager to go out there and prove myself as someone who can thrive in this industry. I look forward to the launch of the new wedding site in May and to many more years of great success in both my life and my business.
Thank you for reading my thoughts. These are the most personal. This is where it started!
Love,
Amber
These two are my whole life and my whole purpose. And though I may get lost sometimes in this crazy-busy life I am living, I know I always have two beautiful little people who love me and look to me to be their shelter. Motherhood is a beautiful blessing. They are why I do what I do! End of story and I can't think of a better reason.
All images copyright Bethany Quillin
Photo Editing by Zasey Photography
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