Shoot Your Shot
It all started with wanting to finally launch a business.
No… wait. It all started with a hobby. No… that’s not it either.
It was something more.
It was my father's affinity for taking family photos; sparking my earliest interest in photography. It was the family bonding after church - on Sunday afternoons. It was getting told not to bother to change out of the uncomfortable suit that I felt restrained in - all because we were getting ready to take photographs. It was getting home after a lengthy church sermon, seeing my father taking joy in getting his wife and children together to pose for photos before Sunday dinner. It was making sure that the lighting in our living/dining room was suitable. It was the blinding flash going off on my father’s Kodak 35mm point and shoot camera. It was taking rides to the neighborhood pharmacy with my Dad to pick up white envelopes bulging with processed negatives and 5x7 photographs.
It was because I… one day I received a text message from my sister on a Tuesday afternoon in October of 2020(what a year!) telling me that my father was diagnosed with stage 2 stomach cancer and it had metastasized(spread in his body). ‘Distraught, I soon began to think of ways to preserve my father’s memory or our memory of him while still with us. Then it hit me.
I was uninspired - by not only digital photography, but of photography altogether. I’ve always been told I have a talent I needed to cultivate, refine, and monetize. I procrastinated. I filled my head with self-doubts and fear of failure subconsciously consumed me.
When I was faced with the fact there was a possibility my father wouldn’t live as long as we’d like to think, my thought was to live - even more. If not for him, but for myself and my family. As a form of mental alchemy, I chose to take the unfortunate news and create a positive out of it. I chose to pick up something he shared with us growing up together as a family - photography. Like my father, I decided to use 35mm photography and use my camera to recreate then in my youth - what was quality time taken for granted.
One day I finally made the decision to disregard the millions of other photography websites out there. I figured my story would forever be special because like my father, it’s unique by default. A story unique to myself. I then decided to take this to another level. I thought, “what better way than to create this blog and website to document as well as share my photographs with you?” - like my father did with my family growing up.
So… no, this didn’t necessarily all start with me wanting to finally launch a business, but a business is now being launched. Still in all, this is more than just a business. This is honoring my Dad’s fight with cancer, anyone else who is fighting or who knows someone fighting against any sickness altogether. This - is - something - more.
This is something more i.e. cherishing frozen times I have left with my father, loved ones, friends, and family. Freezing moments in time of people encountered and places I’ve been so they live forever - in the memory of a photograph. This is for the right now; being present with intention. The future will take care of itself. It always does.
This is something more - like me being vulnerable in sharing my story in hopes it gives you - the reader a source of inspiration for you to now…
Shoot YOUR shot.