My photography journey: From vacation film to digital professional
- Kaitlyn S
- Jul 21
- 8 min read
Photography is something that can just fall into your lap, but it is also something that you can commit to the development of. My photography falls somewhere in the middle.
Photography as a kid
Growing up I would enjoy taking pictures with the family’s film camera. My parents would buy disposable cameras for trips or camps so that I could have “my own camera” to take whatever pictures I wanted. As expected, some photos were terrible, totally blurry or of nothing in particular, but others photographically captured the memories of the journey. I took the lead on the family’s photographic archive.
Eventually in my childhood, the film cameras evolved into a digital point-and-shoot camera. Then I was less limited by the number of pictures I could capture at any given time (though SD card sizes were still small at the time so slightly limited, but definitely more than with film). Technology continued to develop and evolve as did the functions of my digital cameras that followed.
First "publication"
The first big shift from casual photographer of my life to “professional” photographer came my second year of high school when I became a part of the school’s yearbook staff. With yearbook, I was able to photograph a wide array of other people's lives, or at least their lives related to school.
I joined the yearbook committee my second year of high school and “borrowed” the school camera whenever I could to take pictures for the yearbook, but also for myself. I held onto the camera as long as I could with no one else waiting, essentially making it mine. After a little more than a year of using the school’s camera I finally bought my own, a similar model to the one at school since I already knew how it worked. From there I continued to photograph as much as I could. I volunteered to cover as much as I could for the memorializing photobook that students would receive at the end of the year and to gain experience and craft my photographic style. I was part of the team that told the story of my school through pictures.
In this phase of my photography style I learned that I liked photographing many different subjects, none really more than another. I liked photographing nature because it was easy, especially in Colorado. There are so many things in nature to photograph and they are always there, but often changing. The same picture could be taken months or years apart and somehow be different. I liked photographing sports. This was no surprise as an athlete myself, but through photography I went to more games and matches than I would on my own and I learned many of the rules of the sports which helped me better photograph it. I also liked photographing people. Not in the portrait way, but in the candid way. Candids were a way to capture personality and energy. Naturally at first this was a subsect of sports because I would photograph the sidelines or the crowds at the event. One of the lessons my yearbook teacher taught was to capture the action and the reaction of something. So in sports I would capture the action on the field and then capture the reaction by the fans to the game winning score.
Becoming a professional and getting paid
One of the ways I define being a professional photographer is being paid. While being paid is not everything, it is something that validates my skills as a photographer. I know there is a lot of opinion in photography and art, but there has to be some way to measure it.
When I went to college and knew, I wanted to continue photography. It was not something I was going to pursue professionally because it was an art. I had grown up hesitant to pursue a career in art because it would be difficult and to make money to live life. But I didn’t really want to give it up. So in college, I looked into opportunities again with the school’s yearbook and with the student newspaper. Unfortunately, I did not make it onto the yearbook staff my freshman year, but I became an intern with the school's student newspaper. I also landed a job in one of the offices where I could do some photography at events for donors and alumni.
Little did I know as a freshman where this journey and these two roles with the newspaper and the administrative office would take me. With the school newspaper, I rose in the ranks from intern to staff photographer to photo and copy editor. Through this opportunity, I learned what goes into the daily workings of a publication. I had the opportunities to photograph students, staff faculty, donors, alumni, athletes, community members, all for their involvement with the university. I had to challenge myself. To include creative elements in my journalistic photography, but also capture images that were worth 1000 words in photojournalism creativity is only a small part because you have to capture what is happening in the world and be able to convey that message to your audience. If your audience cannot tell what the picture is of and what messages are being portrayed through it then it does not support the journalistic aspect of the image. Working with the newspaper also challenged me to have someone guide the stories and subjects that I would photograph. Staff meetings were used to brainstorm ideas with the writers and the photographers. From those meetings assignments were divided up and executed by deadlines needed to meet print publication needs. Some of the topics were not ones that I would have chosen myself, but as a student, this was the best time to take the risk to capture something I had not done before or had rarely done before.
I continue to photograph as many sporting events as I can. I was no longer an athlete in college, but wanted to seek out opportunities to work in sports in another way. Starting out in college, I knew those opportunities to be a coach, a trainer, or a photographer or journalist. By the end of college, I learned of other options of careers that would be involved in sport. There are many roles that are sport related that sounded of more interest to me than being an athlete, the coach or the trainer.
Newspaper was only part of my photography journey while in college. I also worked with an administrative office that supported donors and alumni and many of the events and publications that went out regarding students, staff, faculty, and the community around the university. In this role, I captured portraits posed and candid to support press releases and articles. I also attended events and captured candid images of attendees and speakers.
This role challenged my photography creativity but was also a great opportunity to learn from a mentor and connect with influential people in the university and local communities that could drive my future careers. I was fortunate to have a mentor and coworkers that believed in my photographic ability and continue to challenge me to share my work one photo at a time. One one photo at a time. At times, they would also challenge me to share my writing, but I was much more stubborn on that front. At times, they would also challenge me to share my writing, but I was much more stubborn with those works.
In both my role with the newspaper and in the administrative office, I was being paid and I was racking up credentials and bylines for where my work had been published. It was so exciting to have my work be shared and to have others agree with and support my work both financially and through their words of praise. I learned that I liked photographing events in addition to my other interests that I had previously discovered before college. events had a lot of energy and opportunities to capture different elements. At an event, I could capture the people during cocktail hour, the keynote speaker, the food, the decor, and the team working behind the scenes to make an event the attendees will remember. I used my camera at events as a way to connect with and engage with people. Generally, I am an introvert, but my camera was my key into conversation and engaging with guests. Not to mention, long-term and professionally there was money that could support living life as an event photographer. This was exciting to discover more ways in which I could continue photography as more than just a hobby. However, it was during this time that I also had to balance wanting to do something I enjoyed and not burning out on it by making it work. I worried that if I pursued photography full-time professionally that I would lose my love for it.
My photography adventures
After college and the end of my roles with the newspaper and administrative office, I had to figure out where photography would fit in with my life. I would occasionally get photography gigs through people and communities that I knew, but it was not something that I was doing full-time. The voice in the back of my mind about being able to support myself as a photographer was always there, so I kept doing photography as a hobby any chance I could. Photography became my way to find new adventures as I figured out who and what I wanted to be in the world now that I was no longer a student. I would go on hikes or take trips or hang out with my friends and take my camera along to enhance the experience for me. This starts to play in where the name of this blog came from. My adventures were guided by my camera.. I would go on hikes or take trips or hang out with my friends and take my camera along to enhance the experience for me. This starts to play in where the name of this blog came from. My adventures were guided by my camera.
I started taking "photography vacations." I would take trips to the mountains and photographs. The hikes I was on. Family vacations to the beach. We’re an opportunity to photograph people and nature. My friends usually willingly, but sometimes reluctantly were my models for photo shoots. my photography adventures would introduce me to new people, but mostly they just created new opportunities for me. I challenged myself to try and see new things to take a different route to take the road less traveled all in the name of what great photo I could capture next when I took the chance. And now my camera goes with me anywhere I go.
Over the years I have become more and more willing to share my photography with the world. Two of my photographic philosophies are to find beauty and share it with the world, and to capture the world the way it is. I focus on the image before I take it and capture what I see and what I am interested in. I do minimal editing once the photo is taken because that is how it existed in the world and would be recognized by anyone who came across it in the future.
I am not 100% sure where my career will take me, but as it always has been, I love photography and would like to do it more. I am actively on job boards and social media groups, and networking with people to find my next photographic adventure whether it be as a wedding photographer, event photographer, brands and products photographer, portrait photographer, sports photographer, travel photographer, the list goes on and on. Here’s to many more adventures, with a camera in hand.
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