How I became a photographer, without having a clue what I was doing!

Back in 2007, I was looking to get out of my full-time job and have something where I could make double what I was currently earning at the time. Not only that, but I wanted to have time freedom so that I didn't have to be at a full-time job working 40 hours a week at a job that I hated. I wanted something that freed up most of my week and if I needed to be at a doctor's appointment or a family get-together. I didn't have to wait to talk to my boss to hear him say that I couldn't have that time off. I wanted the time to spend with my family and not be stuck in a life that I hated.

I remember like it was yesterday, my wife Sara (my fiance at the time)and I got invited to a wedding in Puerto Rico. We were accited to take the trip and had enough time off of work to be able to go. This is about the time that I was pondering the thought of becoming a photographer. I have loved the idea of being a photographer for many years. Since I was young, I have always had a small point-and-shoot camera, but I only shot it on automatic mode. So while we were at the wedding in Puerto Rico, I would watch the photographer and think to myself how cool it would be to be a wedding photographer at a destination like this.

The following year it was pretty funny because a friend of my sisters was getting married in our hometown. My sister asked if I would take pictures at her friend's wedding. Not to worry, they are getting a photographer, but I thought it would be nice if you could take some photos of the day to have extra pictures of her special day. At the time, I thought that was fine. Then a few weeks before the wedding, my sister asked to borrow my cousin's Canon 20D and a lens. It was going to be fun to take pictures with a nice camera. Until my sister came back to me and asked me if I was nervous? Nervous about what? I said. You are going to be the photographer, wait, what? Yeah, they decided not to get a photographer and get a videographer instead and that I would be the photographer.

Long story short, my wife and I photographed the wedding, and they loved all of their photos of the day, even though I shot the entire wedding in automatic mode. It was rough, but the only thing that mattered was their love for the photographs.

After photographing that wedding, my wife and I decided that we would go into business as wedding photographers. The problem now was that we didn't know how to take a good photograph without having the camera on automatic. I was thinking at the time, should we even attempt to do this, knowing we had no clue what we were doing.

We decided to go out and learn everything we could about photography and wedding photography. I watched every possible video I could on YouTube, read books, and ordered a few DVDs from a photographer that was a wedding photographer in Hawaii at the time. He has some fantastic training DVDs on different cameras, and since we owned the Canon 50D at the time, we ordered the training course on this camera. We purchased his wedding photography training DVD as well. Then, we went to work to learn this stuff as fast as possible.

At about the same time, I started building a website for our business. My wife Sara said, should you be doing that yet? I said it's not like we will get any jobs right away; it would take a couple of years before anyone would find us. I guess I was too good with my SEO because a bride discovered our website and contacted us about photographing her wedding. She wanted to schedule a meeting. Oh no...

We started calling every friend and family member and asked if we could photograph their kids, engagement sessions, and family sessions. We printed a portfolio to show the couple a few weeks after contacting us. They were happy with our meeting and our portfolio and ended up booking their wedding with us, so that is where I started my photography career in the wedding photography industry. I don't recommend anyone going the route that we did. I recommend that you get good at your craft before ever jumping into the deep end with your photography.

After about 12 years of weddings, we decided to move into the commercial photography industry alongside photographing nature and landscapes, my true passion when it comes to photography.