Reflections on My First Year as a Photographer
This past week marked the first birthday of my photography business. One full year since I took the gigantic leap of faith to pursue a career as a natural light photographer in Memphis—WOW! I truly cannot believe that I am here. It all seems surreal. What started as a brand new hobby, wanting to learn something new and take photos of my children, has turned into an incredibly rewarding business that I am incredibly passionate about. I feel I have stumbled into where I am truly meant to be—I have found my calling. This past year has been life-changing for me and my family.
As I sit here with my cup of coffee reflecting on the past year, I am filled with immense gratitude for the people who have supported and helped me, but also for myself and all the hard work and dedication I have put into this business. Putting myself out there and risking being rejected or not being good enough has held me back in many aspects of my life, and I am so grateful that I decided to push through the fear and stop playing small.
Image by Katherine Cagle. Taken at the Mastermind Retreat in Brooklyn, NY
The Lead-Up: First Half of 2023
I purchased my camera at the beginning of 2023 and spent the first several months learning on my own. I studied books on photography and natural light, experimented on my own children, watched YouTube tutorials (where I eventually found my mentor, Elena S. Blair—more on that later), and took an amazing course on mastering manual mode from E-Squared Photography. I wasn't looking to take this hobby anywhere other than maybe taking some photos of friends every now and then.
July 2023
After months of self-studying and capturing my own family, I had enough inquiries from friends and acquaintances asking if I would ever offer sessions for black-and-white portraits. On a whim, I decided to create a Calendly link and just blast it on my social media.. I was absolutely terrified and wondered what in the world I was thinking. But with my camera in hand, I fought through the fear and scheduled, shot, and delivered 15 beautiful black-and-white fine art portraits that first month. I was hooked. I LOVED IT. I loved capturing the personalities of children in their perfect little imperfect ways. I loved interacting with them and being able to freeze time in a beautiful photo for their parents. I wasn’t sure where it would take me, but I decided to keep it going and keep offering a couple of days per month for black-and-white portraits.
August 2023
I continued doing fine art portraits and never stopped, but I also agreed to take some outdoor family sessions for a few families in August. I was nervous, but I knew if it was anything like the personality portraits, I would fall in love with it too. Spoiler alert: I was instantly obsessed! It was more difficult, but incredibly rewarding. Being able to give a mom (or parent) keepsakes of memories of connecting with his/her family meant everything to me.
Getting Down to Business
After adding family sessions to my repertoire, I knew this was no longer going to be just a little hobby I did on the side. I began obsessing over posing, improving my skills, and creating meaningful images that would be cherished for a lifetime. I started watching Elena S. Blair videos on YouTube. She was amazing. I mean, really, I wanted to be just like her, but with my own creative style. She has this way of putting the families she’s shooting at ease and guiding them into poses that create real, authentic, connected, MEANINGFUL interactions. I had found a photographer who got me and what I wanted to capture- the messy, the real, the chaotic, the imperfectly perfect. Screw perfection! Embracing the true soul of a person and their family is what it is all about, and she made me realize I could be successful and still hold true to this value for my business.
Fall got crazy busy, and by the end of November, I had done over 85 sessions between fine art portraits, newborn sessions, and family sessions. It became a little more difficult to try to take it all on by myself while working a full-time job at FlightPlan Financial, where I am the Director of Operations, raising two small children, trying to be a good wife, and keeping up my endurance training—yes, I am one of those hardcore work out, running feens! It was becoming too much. I craved being more present with my children and husband but knew if I took a step back so early in my new business, I would be forgotten.
Joining a Mentorship Program- December 2023
December 2023: with what felt like the weight of the entire world on my shoulders, I saw Elena Blair’s Instagram post that she was taking applicants to her Mastermind Program.
The Elena S. Blair Mastermind Program is a 6-month group mentoring/coaching program for photographers to level up their photography both creatively and on the business side. Photographers wanting to join must first apply (with short personal essay-type questions—big deterrent for someone like me who loved to play small and had a massive case of imposter syndrome). If your application is approved, you have a Zoom interview with Elena to see if you’re a good fit for her program.
The post popped up on my Instagram one evening after I had stayed up working incredibly late after the kids' bedtimes, yet again. I was just about to go to bed when I saw the post. I don’t know if I would have had the courage to even apply if I hadn’t been so exhausted in that moment, but I did. THANKFULLY. My application was accepted, and I got an interview with Elena. I was totally geeking out. How could I even pretend that I was good enough to learn IRL from such an amazing artist?
The investment wasn’t exactly small to join the program, but I knew it was a great opportunity and might be even more beneficial to me since I had no real systems to my business and was taking on way too much trying to manually do everything myself and keep the rest of my life on track. I decided to make the investment into myself and my business, and WHEW!! I am so glad I did. The investment paid back tenfold.
The community, the knowledge, the creativity, the resources—all have been invaluable.
Below are some photos from the retreat at the conclusion of the program.
Taking on Schools- April 2024
In April 2024, with some encouragement from my mastermind program mentors, like Caeli Richter, and a bunch of knowledge from Elena and her community and a lot of hard work, I shot my first school in Memphis. Again, LOVED IT. I will be sharing more about this process in a separate blog post leading up to the next two schools I am shooting in the early fall, but I will say receiving the feedback from the parents of that first school has been so rewarding for me and renewed my purpose on why I love doing what I am doing and how I know I am doing exactly what I should be doing. I received messages like, “Thank you for capturing our daughter in the most beautiful way. We love that her personality shines through each picture. You are amazing and we pray you continue to be blessed and stay blessed!”
June 2024 to Present
I completed the mastermind program in June. I had spent 6 months learning from some of the best photographers in the industry. I had gotten systems in place in my business to have it run like a well-oiled machine while also improving the experience for my clients. I had created my website. I had started shooting schools and revamped my fine art personality portraits. I have learned so much about photography, running a business, and myself in the last 6 months. I ended June at the mastermind retreat in Brooklyn with over 70 amazing other photographers. I started July doing a branding session for my incredibly inspiring sister-in-law, who has started a business, Boujee Nurse, with two offices in Denver.
Photographers from past and present cohorts came together in Brooklyn at the 2024 Elena S Blair Mastermind Retreat in Brooklyn, NY.
Looking to the Future
I have scheduled two schools for this fall. I am going to begin offering Fresh 48 sessions after my children go back to school. I will continue taking family and newborn sessions and keep doing my fine art personality portraits as well. I plan to invest in lighting and start taking my indoor photos to a new level. I also have plans to begin the journey into family films and hope to offer this within the next 18 months after completing a course from the absolutely incredible Becca Jean.
Conclusion
I am learning. I am growing. This business has been a wild, exciting ride for me— full of highs and lows. While I am still in the early staged when the hours are long and the hustle is huge, I am now at a place where I can allow the systems I put in place to do their job and give me back at least some time with my family while providing a better experience for my clients. This journey is nothing I expected it to be and everything I have always wanted. I learn more about myself and running a business every single day, and I am incredibly grateful that I have ended up on this journey. I am looking so forward to seeing where the next year takes Caitlin Ross Photography.
