Why Me

You may remember I mentioned being dragged through questions of why and how I got into this in a recent blog post. I wanted to be sure that as we launched our new vision, that I took the time to share those answers. You may want to grab a cup of coffee because this post is gonna take awhile...

Why I Became A Wedding Photographer...it almost sounds like a school assignment. In order to answer that, you'd need to rewind to October 2007. The setting: Andrew had just proposed and I was at work, confined to my cube, trying my hardest to focus on work. Was I focusing on work? Um, I'll plead the fifth? I kept staring down at my gorgeous ring, smiling non stop, feeling warm and fuzzy all the time and I couldnt stand the 9 hours separating me from from work and planning my wedding. So I did what any awesome employee would do...I planned my wedding at work.

Enter the wedding blogs. I was constantly online looking for ideas, blogs, photos. Honestly, I have no idea how many websites I went through. But I was hooked. I loved wedding details. I loved the photos, the flowers, the feeling that I got looking through someone's wedding photos. And I absolutely adored the idea of making my wedding not only something memorable but that it would be so infused with meaning and myself. Eventually, I came across Cook Images. I remember walking out of their studio with my mom and Andrew and thinking "there are it". I couldnt wait for our engagement photos to see the first of what I knew were going to be the best wedding photos on the planet.

Fast forward to July 2008. Andrew and I had been back from our honeymoon for about two weeks, my birthday was approaching and we were thinking back over our wedding. Andrew loved our wedding. I've never met a guy who actually, genuinely was in love with his wedding day...but my husband is. We talked about the details, and how we felt, and about our photographer. I remember saying how neat it was that they were a husband and wife team; that as photographers, they got to relive their wedding day over and over again and be refreshed in why they love each other. And just like that, Andrew had an idea. "Cass, why dont we try it?"

Now, at this point, I'd shot two weddings in my life with a film camera. But I'd been taking pictures as a hobby, mostly nature throughout college. My roommate took a photography class and I asked if I could tag along with her whenever she went out to shoot. She taught me how to develop film; I remember being captivated in the room of red watching as an image slowly surfaced on my paper. I looked at Andrew like he was nuts. "Try wedding photography? You cant just try wedding photography. You've got to get a website and business cards and advertise and people have to like you! And then there's the taxes thing and the paperwork and becoming an LLC...and where's the money going to come from to buy equipment?" But, for my birthday, Andrew and I went out and got our business license. I remember going to my parents with the paperwork and my dad offering to build us a website. And it went from there.

The details of all the things involved in becoming a wedding photographer is a bit crazy and extremely time consuming, but I want to make sure that I've clarified the reason. I loved my wedding photographer. The images he created brought us so much joy. I could relive every moment from his photos. As Andrew and I look back over our photos, we can feel all the emotions that we felt that day. I wanted to be able to not only experience that over and over again, but I wanted to give that to other people. I wanted to be able to bring emotions to the wedding photography experience. I dont want people to look at our work and think "that's a great photo"...I want them to be drawn to the photo, to feel the emotion behind the photo, and to find themselves feeling connected to what they see.

Being able to blog is intimidating. I have no idea how many people are out there reading. I dont know if people like what they read. I dont know if expressing myself on this blog causes people to want to book me as their photographer...and to be honest, part of me doesnt want to know. Well, okay, so I want to know, but I'm terrified to know. But I feel that this blog is where I can really show people who I am. And I hope that causes people to get to know me, to feel like they can come up to me and say hey if they see me at a restaurant or something, and I want clients to book me on the basis that they like who Andrew and I are and that they feel that they want us to be there documenting their wedding.

So, now that I've written a small book, I hope that I've answered my school essay question and that you all understand why I wanted to become a wedding photographer. And hopefully I'm fulfilling that goal and learning every day how to better invest in my clients.

Dwell in Possibility...
Cassie