Best Shot Monday: Family Photo Shoot

November 10, 2008 - 23 Comments by Mishi - Uncategorized

I’ve only had one paying job in my life.  Well, not counting the ice cream scooping gig at the fair and the Avon peddling.  I’ve only had one job, and that job was a studio photographer.  I worked for Sears Portrait Studio for a little over seven years. I also worked for Wal-Mart Portraits, for a short time, but I’d rather forget that.

It was some of the greatest of times.  It was some of the worst of times.

It was great because I excelled at my craft.  I took great pictures of kids and families and couples and babies and you-name-it.  Those were the great times; really connecting with people and capturing their true beauty and spirit.  The worst of times was being in management and having to deal with the crap-storm that people felt they could inflict upon you just because there was a “customer satisfaction guarantee.”  People used that and they used it in an ugly way.   Still…. I look back at that time as a huge lesson for what would come later.

Now is later.

Today I went to a new friend’s house and took portraits of her family.  I was totally transcended back to that period of time during which I took photographs for a living.  Except, I had more control.   I realize that I still have room for growth in this profession and I’m embracing that.

Yes.  I said it.  This profession.   I’m going back to my roots of portraiture.

Today I feel full of hope for the future.  I feel that it holds the promise of something more for me.  I certainly love that I am a mother to these children of mine, but I also love that I am striving for more than that.   I’m striving for something that I have passion for, something that makes me feel complete.

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The whole set of portraits can be found on my Flickr page.

Here are some high-lights: