The Beginning
I have such a fond memory of receiving my very first digital camera for Christmas of 2008. It was the peak of Myspace days and the wild wild west of the internet. I was obsessed with watching America's Next Top Model and I was convinced that would be me one day. I fell in love with the whole process from the photoshoot concept, hair and makeup, set design, props, and the final picture results.
Upon receiving my digital camera I wanted nothing more than to start that dream. I would grab my cousin and we would adorn ourselves in our finest outfits consisting of vans, skinny jeans, and fox racing tees and go into the backyard to model for photos. I also became the queen of duck face selfies (at an unnaturally high angle), so much so that my dad would consistently poke fun at me for it (see cringey pic below). My cousin and I would grab whatever random props we had to take photos with.
I adored the idea that this lil rectangle was able to capture all the amazing moments and people that blessed me life. It was definitely the beginning of my love for capturing moments.
Duck face with dad circa 2009
The Middle
Fast forward to college, I was now out and about in the world living my independent life while still being so unsure which life path to take. I struggled with deciding which major I wanted to pursue in college and just overall unsure of myself and my talents. I started making friends and found the electronic music scene in my area. This eventually led me to crossing paths with my friend Sarah who was in school for Graphic Design and had reached out to people on Facebook looking for someone who could cover her shift running visuals at a local nightclub that I occasionally attended. She showed me the ropes and introduced me to the world of Graphic Arts and all the things that encompassed that. I finally decided that Graphic Design was going to be my major.
I was enthralled that I could bring my art to the digital era and that there was so many different aspects to it.
Around the same time, I had just enough extra financial aid money from school that allowed me to purchase my very own DSLR camera. I was still working at the night club and thought it the perfect opportunity to practice my camera skills by photographing some of the shows at the venue. While photographing at the venue was fun I wanted to start practicing portraits and more creative shoots. I would gather some of my gorgeous friends together to become my models. I should also mention that I had become obsessed with all things makeup. I fell down the beauty influencer Youtube hole and quickly made doing makeup a side business for myself. I loved being able to come up with makeup looks for shoots and slowly but surely my creative processes became one.
I was in the learning processes of Graphics and Photography and knew then that I could really see myself doing this for a living. Essentially I wanted to become a one woman show where I would create concepts, build props, design hair and makeup and photograph the whole thing. My creative brain was in heaven and I was excited for what the future might hold.
My first few photoshoots with friends
My First Paid Session
Your friends should be your biggest supporters and I was blessed to have quite a few. In the very early days of my photography, my friend had reached out and asked if I could snap some photos of her baby for her birthday invites. I hopped on the opportunity. I was extremely nervous for my first session and working with kids tended to be a challenge because sometimes they are not in the mood to have some lady putting a camera in their face. I had to start learning how to get her to interact with me and give me genuine emotion to capture all while making sure my settings were good, lighting was perfect, and composition was up to par. I look back now and could easily rip these photos apart but I instead remind myself that its a learning process and I have come a long way.
The present
I started this journey back in 2014 and I am still striving to gain more knowledge and constantly leveling up my photography game. I have photographed a variety of different events, scenes, and people. While I love photographing events and family sessions (and I still do) I have really started to focus my business towards a more creative direction. I want to make 14 year old Cait proud that I was able to accomplish our dream. I want to make fairytales and fantasy come to life so that for brief moments in time we can escape reality. I plan to continue this dream and I hope you will come with me along this journey.
