This year was the year where I decided to throw myself into a bunch of different hobbies and find out what is something I am truly passionate about and can see a future with. I began dabbling into social media content creation, and sneaker collecting, found myself playing sports again, and read more books.  But aside from content creation, only one hobby stuck with me.

That was photography.

As a kid, I had carried around a red Nikon Coolpix S6500 Digital Camera. It became my prized possession. I took photos of everything around me. My family, stores I went to, fountains. Whatever I could find.

But like all kids, I fixated on this for who knows how long and then moved on to the next thing shortly after.

Fast forward to my senior year of college and I started finally tuning into my creative side again through being a social media content creation intern. Being able to showcase my knowledge and talent through content creation within the school became an eye-opener to something I can see myself doing in the future.

That is when I wanted to branch out more. I didn’t want to just do it for school anymore.

It started with taking photos on my iPhone and editing them with the basic settings the camera roll gave me. I took pictures of friends, family, and nature. It quickly became something I grew extremely fond of.

One day I was sitting in a friend’s studio session and my best friend had brought her camera to test out. I took the camera and started shooting photos.

When I saw the outcome of what I took, I knew this was my new love.

It stuck.

That night, I came home and ordered my first professional start-up camera. I got a Canon EOS Rebel T7. It came with the body, two lenses, an SD card, and a strap. Everything I needed to get started. When it did come, I started off simple.

I started with portraits to get a feel for what settings worked and didn’t work for me. When I got back into the music studio, that is when my photography spark ignited.

Not only did I get to watch an EP come to life, which was a super fun experience, I got to document the process for my portfolio and capture the moments where my friend’s musical creativity came to life. We worked with many different angles and even brought in some color using special LED lights. While this was when I was freshly starting and I had a lot to learn and improve on, I was on top of the world with what I was doing. We had done three shots and each time I grew more comfortable with the camera.

As my portrait and music portfolio grew so did my eagerness for more. I needed to put myself out there if I wanted more opportunities.

So, I took my camera to my younger sister’s karate and began shooting for them every week.

For years I always thought I wanted to work in the music industry behind the scenes. That was until these karate shoots.

I found more excitement in catching action shots and being able to portray the hard work these young kids put into their training. When the workers asked me to shoot more and were interested in it, I knew my work was paying off.

Being start-up, paid opportunities aren’t going to just be handed to you. This was the start of my freelance photography journey.

When the opportunity over the summer to go to Mercy’s Soccer and Volleyball teams’ pre-season practices and shoot pictures came along, I jumped on it immediately. I showed up and I was in my element.

It was all about the action; tracking the ball, showcasing the talent these athletes had, that had me invested. I truly felt when I was shooting these practices, my best work was coming out.

I came home after that full day of shooting and started researching sports photography.

I watched hours of photographers going through what settings work best for which sport. I opened up Adobe Lightroom after watching countless videos of photographers editing their photos.

I wanted to perfect my craft and have amazing content to show employers in the future.

When the seasons began, I went to a women’s soccer game and volleyball game with my camera.

That was my first real taste of shooting a game.

I loved every second of it.

Being on the sidelines at the volleyball game made my adrenaline pump.

The energy of the crowd, the players celebrating when they scored, and the coaches giving words of encouragement, all made the long night worth it. Looking at my work that night on my computer, I can confidently say that the game gave me my best shots.

Now, a lot of people ask what is the point of taking hours out of your day to take photos and edit them without getting paid.

For me, it is not about the money.

Freelance work for me is about the experience. I am gaining more skills than ever before. My passion for sports is growing more and more each day because I am getting the chance to see it from another point of view.

The other side of freelancing, for me, is that it is like my escape from reality. I have so much going on in my personal life and my school life, that it can be overwhelming.

But when I am on the sidelines and behind the camera, it feels like all of that goes away for however long it may be. At that moment, I don’t have to worry about anything else.

It’s just me, my camera, and my focal points.

Soon enough I will be able to turn these experiences into a career in the future and I could not be more excited.