I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what the hey I’m doing with my life. Not all the deep thoughts like “why the heck did I get a HISTORY degree if I want to do art?” or “why exactly do I live in this arctic northern climate when I don’t even really like winter??” … More than that I’ve been thinking about what I’m doing with photography, why I’m doing something at all and where do I want to go from here, in June of 2011?

I started on this pipe dream of being a fabulous pet photographer back in October of 2008 but can’t say I put my heart and soul into it until recently. The initial plan was golden … I was going to post photos of my dad’s puppy on my blog and the people who thought she was so cute and that their own puppy could look that cute would come flocking. It would be so easy and so quick and I would be an instant success. Ha! How naïve was THAT? I clearly had absolutely no idea what was involved in running a business, let alone starting one. But I definitely had a vision, I can give myself that much credit.

2009 included more practice and my first email inquiry!!! It was a bride looking for a photographer for her wedding. At the time I thought, “what the heck about MY website screams ‘wedding photographer?’” I took photos of my first horse and anyone who would let me close to their dog and say it was ok.

2010 brought me to a screeching halt with major major changes at work taking pretty much all my daylight week day hours and the busiest summer I have ever scheduled. I’m not complaining at all because it was a fantastic year but as I’ve said before, I really do believe that everything happens for a reason. For me, that’s the only way a lot of things in life make any sense at all. I think that huge hiatus from focusing on the business side of things and just having fun with animals was amazing and allowed me to grow as a person and ponder it all to determine “do I really like dogs and cats THIS much that I want to dedicate my photography to them??” And the answer? Heck YES!

2011 is almost 1/2 over which I still can not believe. Story of our lives and a tale for a different post. But even with it 1/2 over, I’m feeling amazing. Amazing about what I’ve done so far and amazing about where I’m going. I was recently at a pet photography workshop and the whole time I was there I couldn’t help but feel giddy. I have so much to learn and so much to do, that’s for darn sure, but I feel like I’m on the right track, this business decision makes sense, there are so many AMAZING photographers out there that I’m proud to be friends with and bottom line, I am soooooo an animal person 🙂 I’m 25 and going strong!

Do you ever have those moments where things make sense? Where wanting to be a vet as a kid didn’t pan out because you realized you love animals too much to deal with wounds and death and hate blood enough you’d pass out at the sight of it, then figuring out that people love their animals as much as I do and would be interested in little ol’ me taking photos to commemorate that life and it all just makes complete sense? I love it. And I am so happy to be doing this. I love that my girls have folders upon folders of pictures from when I brought them home all the way through to this evening and don’t plan to stop now. I have visions of getting a nice (huge!!) canvas print made to hang on my wall because I love them so much.

I think I felt I should write this because I have been trying to organize my thoughts since getting back from the workshop. Not only that, but organize my photos – oooof da! But because in some ways this blog has become like an animal + food + travel journal, I thought this would be a good topic to write about since I am at the heart of all of that.

I suppose there really isn’t a conclusion to any of this. Just the point that I’m so excited to see where the rest of my year goes and what I do in the future. I’m feeling more motivated than ever to keep on keepin’ on!!