Wow.  Looking back over the past 14 months of business, we cannot believe how far we’ve come. No, we’re not famous(yet) but we’ve far surpassed our initial goals!

They tell you your first year in operation will be tough. They said we would “eat, breathe, and sleep” our business. “They” weren’t kidding.

Rewind to summer 2008. Atlanta Georgia.

David was working for an alarm company as an installation technician for the summer. I was staying home with our two little boys, 1 and 3 at the time. I had no goals. I was lost, confused, just going where the current swept me. I had many inhibitions. I was afraid of people and always worried what everyone thought of me. I was so inhibited, and so afraid of doing anything worthwhile for fear of criticism.

I had experienced a particularly down week. I felt so alone and so confused, my past behaviors and beliefs had led me to loathe myself in the mirror, I didn’t like who I was and didn’t know where I was going.

I didn’t want to exist.  One day while I was laying on my bed in deep contemplation, the thought occurred to me, that, there had to be something I could do to move forward. I obviously couldn’t get any worse, I had thought, so perhaps I could only get better. Then a book that my father in law had given me came to mind. He had given it to us for Christmas but it was tossed aside, shoved to the back of the closet, no doubt. I frantically rummaged through the closet, in hopes that it might still be there. It was! It was called Psycho Cybernetics: A New Way to Get More Living out of Life. I didn’t wait to start it, I plopped myself down on the couch right there and then, and began to read.

People talk about defining moments. That was a big one for me. That book opened my eyes and liberated me from the chains I had so tightly bound myself with. It gave me permission to MOVE FORWARD and just BE the person I want to be. It gave me the ultimate secrets to true and lasting change. I read the book in a week. I practiced the exercises it recommended. People around me quickly noticed a change in my demeanor, my posture, my eyes, my skin, I was glowing, and I felt so alive. Once I finished the book, I craved more. I wanted to read every publication I could find on the subject of change. The next book I read was The Magic of Thinking Big and my mind was enlightened.

I wanted to do something. I wanted to live to my full potential.

I have always considered myself an artist. I have ventured down every creative avenue possible to man; painting, drawing, pottery, theater, music, you name it, EXCEPT photography.

On June 4 2008, Dave bought me this little advanced point and shoot camera, FUJI I think. I took it outside and snapped a few shots..of butterflies.. Something happened that day. I realized I could create art with a lens. A whole new world had opened up before my eyes and I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to be a photographer.

So I started a blog, named it, and off I went.

We came home to Utah in the fall and moved into  a tiny 800 sq ft home in a small town. David wasn’t bringing in a steady income and there were times we didn’t know how we would pay the rent, let alone fill up the car to get to a photosession, but we did it, somehow, we made it happen. We scraped up the money for a used DSLR an some equipment. I did a lot of free sessions and didn’t make a whole lot of money. I was barely covering my travel and childcare expenses. Money was a very real obstacle for us. But the key was that we had belief. I believed in myself and knew that if I believed I could do it, my brain would come up with the HOW.

So, long story short, it has been over a year and a half since I decided to start this little endeavour. We moved out of that small town and into a nice home. David has since partnered with me and I am officially a licensed and insured wedding and portrait photographer. We invest all that we have into this business and are constantly searching for ways to improve it. Education and growth is our number one priority. We are still learning and consider it part of the ride.  For us, it’s not the destination, it’s the journey.

This is my passion. To be able to share it with the world and support a family with it is a dream come true for me.

We have big dreams for this company. Big goals. We WILL accomplish what we’ve set out to do.

Any opportunity we are given to grow, we take.

“The successful always has a number of projects planned, to which he looks forward. Anyone of them could change the course of his life overnight.”
–Mark Caine

We believe WPPI will help us grow, thus changing the course of our lives. The end.