Let's See Why
I've loved seeing and reading other photographer's eloquent blog posts about all their sessions; loved them so much in fact I decided why not give it a try! These first couple might be rough, but bare with me while I get in the swing of it. I'll probably start off doing a bunch in the beginning of past sessions that I just absolutely adored, but eventually you'll only see them when I have a new photo shoot that blew my mind that I just neeeeed to share with everyone else.
So let's start back to the beginning. If you read my about me part on the home page then you already have a general idea about me. But let's go a little bit deeper, let's go to the why. Why photography, why Awestruck, why horses?
Why Photography
I started this off with SUCH a long reason for why photography, but holy smokes was it long. Let's see if I can condense this a little.
It all started when...Haha, I'm just kidding. But in all honesty, I always loved taking pictures of some sort, and being in front of the camera. Eventually my parents got me my first point and shoot, and I no longer had to wait two weeks to see the pictures of my thumb that I took. I finally was able to see them on the back of the camera screen and realized I needed to step my game up. I learned to take pictures of not only my thumb, but actually the scenery in front of me! What a surprise! I started to take a lot of landscape photos, as well as pictures of my family and my pets.
Eventually my parents got me my first DSLR, and a graduation present of a MacBook Pro (which 8 years later I'm still using and typing on now to write this blog post...thanks Mom and Dad!). From there it really expanded. More landscape photos, more family photos, more pet photos, and I started to expand to taking pictures of friends. I had so much fun! Let me tell you though, when I say more photos of all sorts, I mean a LOT more. I can take 5 pictures of the exact same thing, but find the ever so slight difference and try to justify why I need to keep both copies of the same image. In fact, Ashleigh Egan, a photographer that I partner with for a lot, and definitely look up to for a lot, even limits how many pictures per rider I can take during a pattern.
But anyhow, I started to focus more on designing. I absolutely loved using Adobe Photoshop, and found all the neat things you can do with it. In fact, if I'm designing a flyer that could probably easily be done in Microsoft Word, I still open up Photoshop to do the flyer that's mostly words and only one or two pictures. But with all my Photoshop knowledge I started to create a lot of different designs, and loved making invitations and announcements. (Which, by the way, if you need an invitation or announcement made, I'm your girl! I still love doing those types of things and would love to create whatever you need!) The designing aspect took over and although I still took pictures for fun, I focused a lot more on anything graphics related.
Eventually a couple friends started asking for random photos done, and I thought sure, why not? Slowly more and more people started asking me to take pictures, and I started to enjoy taking pictures of people more and more. Then, to my surprise, someone asked me to take pictures of them, and they'd pay me for it! I said I didn't need paid, and they insisted. Then more people wanted to pay for me to take pictures. At that time I definitely didn't take pictures that compared to other photographers out there, and honestly, looking back at pictures I took in 2012-2014, I cringe. The lighting, the set ups, the shadows, the posing...just all of it basically is cringe worthy. But thankfully, I've grown as a photographer, and the quality is much better. I hope to continue to grow, because let's be honest, you can always improve, change your creative style, and just blossom. I honestly can't wait to see where I go with photography, and I'm absolutely honored if/that you paid for me to take your pictures.
Whoops...that still ended up being long!
Why Awestruck Photography
So let's start with my very first name...Kirby's Custom Creations. Looking at that logo I can't help but laugh now. Like I said above, I was doing a lot of designing, so Custom Creations made so much sense! But then when I got away from designing (although like I said, I still love to do it and will design anything for you!) I decided that Kirby's Custom Creations wouldn't work.
I had another friend that did a lot of graphic designing at the time, and we decided to start a business together. I did the photography and some designing, and he did a lot of the other designing. His name was Andrew. When we wanted to come up with a business name, we wanted it to somehow include both of us. That's when we decided on Awestruck. The A from the beginning of Awestruck was for Andrew, and the K at the end of Awestruck was for Kirby. Plus, we hoped that when people saw our images and designs that they'd be Awestruck by them.
But then Andrew and I went our separate ways, although we are still friends. He's still down in Maryland while I'm up in Central Pennsylvania. I wanted to keep going with the photography though. And now that I'm doing a lot more photography than designing, and since it's so hard trying to fit the "and Design" into names, logos, and websites, I shortened it to just Awestruck Photography.
And thus, Awestruck Photography became.
Why Horses
Okay, this one I promise will be a short one. I know I keep saying it, but really...this one will be!
It's really easy actually, I've always loved horses, and over the years, I've been lucky enough to come into ownership and partnership with three horses: two Tennessee Walkers, a mare and a gelding, and one Quarter Horse, a perfect little dun filly. (I talk about her so much, it's not even funny...she's the cutie in all the pictures with me. But I said this part wouldn't be long, so I'll just end that there.)
Anyhow, I started taking a lot of pictures of my own horses, and when I went to Penn State (We Are!) I was very involved in their Equine Science program. One of the best parts of their program is their breeding program of Quarter Horses (where I got my Quarter Horse filly), and I spent as much time as I possibly could taking pictures of the cute little foals. I mean, who could resist spending time in a pasture with 14-20 baby horses and taking pictures of them?! I obviously coudln't! Then when I started doing more senior pictures, people would ask to have their pictures taken with the foals, yearlings, or two year olds that are part of their program, and it all just blossomed from there.
Now, I'm lucky enough to work with Ashleigh Egan of AE Photography at all the horse shows throughout the summer and early fall, and I have an absolute blast doing it! She has helped me tremendously with my equine photography, and catching the perfect action shots. I honestly don't think I could thank her enough. She helped turn my la-la land, look at the pretty pony pictures into awesome action shots, and even more amazing la-la land, look at the pretty pony pictures. (Let's be honest, I'll always love the pretty horse in the pasture pictures.)
Now, even though I absolutely love taking horse related pictures, I have come to absolutely love taking senior, couple, and family pictures! Maybe here soon you'll see a blog post about why people?
The End of Whys
At least for now. If there's any other why's you want to know about, don't hesitate to ask! I'll be honest, I had this nice long blog post that I was so proud of writing, albeit when I say long, I mean REALLY long. (If you know me personally then you know I never know when to just shut up!) Thank you so much if you actually read all of my very first blog post, I truly appreciate it! In fact, I appreciate it so much that if you mention my first blog post when booking a session, I'll give you $20 off an hour or longer session. I hope you enjoyed my first blog, and continue to read the future ones. Like I said in the beginning, I plan on doing a quite a few of these, especially in the beginning, but then I won't bother everyone too much and will just do them with some of the sessions.
If there's anything in particular you'd like to read about, or want to hear more about a particular session, or just pick my brain about a particular topic, just let me know!!
