Another Year…
Having moved my website onto an updated platform, I lost all of my blogs so I am choosing a small selection for republising……this one is from just over 5 years ago in March 2018
WOW....SIX years old... Bright Eyes is 6 years old today...six years since I purchased my URL and 6 years since I took out my business insurance. Six years since I took a huge breath and jumped in feet first. I can't pretend I knew everything then, in fact I don't feel as if I know everything now. There is lots more to learn and this year I am investing in more training in different genres of photography.
I never went to University or college to learn photography but have done many training courses within the industry which taught me about light and styling and I have continued to learn with a strive for perfection. There'll always be better photographers, cheaper photographers, photographers who do weddings or the perfectly posed newborns, but something I learned early on was to only ever compare myself to the photographer that I used to be.
Photography was not my chosen profession. From school I worked in an office block for an insurance company which was extremely well-paid except I was miserable there. Thirteen years later I was given a chance to get out and went to work for a travel company where I worked for 9 years. This was the total opposite to my previous job, huge enjoyment but really poor pay. Now later in life and living in a town that's not my home town, nor having any family around, it was important to me to be around for my daughter who was 6 when we moved here, and I couldn't do that effectively taking a part time job that required me to work during the school holidays. I therefore did numerous part time, school time jobs for a few years, including being a dinner lady! Then, in 2012, I found my niche.
Actually, my niche, that elusive little thing, had been right there all along, following me in life but never really showing itself. After taking a photo of my daughter on her first birthday (with a very dodgy point and press camera), I vowed to ensure photos were taken at every birthday as she grew up so I could have a permanent record of her growing. She was 18 last week and yes, we did it, and having her as my muse made me push to get a better camera, improve my skills and explore the craft of photography more and more.
So I don't compare myself to other photographers. I don't think, "I should be doing so and so because X is or Y is." I just compare myself to the unhappy, unfulfilled person I was in my younger life and know that I am happy and content just being me and doing what I do.
If you like my photos then please let me know; it's lovely to hear from people and that I am appreciated. If I am not for you then hey it's great, everyone has different tastes, different budgets, different expectations so go on right now and find that different/cheaper/more experienced photographer that you love as there is room for plenty of us out there.
Connect to me in your chosen way:
www.facebook.com/brighteyes.stevenage
www.instagram.com/brighteyes.photography/
Jo@brighteyes-photography.co.uk
Telephone or text: 07748651523
Jo Hennessey
12 March 2018
A photo I took yesterday (March 2018)
