I haven't shared my journey into photography before... so I’ve decided to take you into the depths of my memory and my hard drive today!

I've always loved taking pictures, scrapbooking, and other artsy things. In my early teens, I had cheap film cameras where I shot everything in auto and had the film developed at CVS. When digital became a thing (man I feel old), I had a series of basic canon cameras. I think the first was a Powershot. My best friend and I must have taken a million selfies and photos of each other (looking at you, Kristen!). We even used editing programs and added text to photos - I think this was back when we posted to our online journals before Myspace and Facebook existed. We had lots of time on our hands :)

Fast forward to college and a million photos before iPhones were a thing (I am really feeling old now). I thought those photos taken on my Canon Cyber-shot were pretty darn good until I just looked through them now :) I still have my camera that’s been buried in a drawer because I can’t imagine parting with it… Looking at it now, it was 7.2 megapixels (for reference, my current camera body is 26.2 megapixels). Wow. That camera followed me through college (SO MANY SELFIES but they weren’t called selfies yet) and went on some fun trips to Williamsburg, Bermuda, North Carolina, & all over Greece when I studied abroad. I also took it to the dirtbike track with Tamir one too many times and the lens would never open quite the same…

In 2012, I upgraded to my first DSLR, a Nikon D5100 with an 18-55mm kit lens. I used it in auto or aperture priority mode for about 5 years. I used it to document my newly married life and a few trips we took before we had kids. It went with us to Philly, Disneyworld, Ocean City, St. Thomas, Egypt, San Francisco (also stood by us when we survived Tamir going through grad school). This was before I knew how to use editing software…

Then it followed us through our first pregnancy & moving to our current house. I spent some time fiddling around with images in Photoshop and slowly learned a few things through practice.

Once my son was born, I became a little more invested in taking photos. I still had no idea what I was doing, but over time I became a little more comfortable with my camera and learned the magic of a 50mm lens (shoutout to my photographer friend, Lindsay, who helped guide me way back then!). My photos improved slowly over the next couple years as I learned how to better manipulate my settings and understand light!

In 2017, my brother asked me to take some headshots for him. I tried to watch youtube videos to learn some of my camera settings in the days leading up to it, but I truly had no idea how to manipulate my camera. Moreover, I had very little understanding of shooting in full sun. In the end, he got what he needed at the time, but I kind of cringe when I look back at the unedited photos. That day ended up lighting a fire and giving me the motivation to learn to use my camera manually. I learned SO MUCH from YouTube, webinars, podcasts, and any other free resources I could get my hands on.

Once I started manipulating my shutter speed, aperture, ISO, and white balance, things started to click. I loved how sharp my photos were compared to even a few weeks prior - with the same camera! I knew I wanted to continue and invest in a full frame camera, so I sold my D5100 and my lenses and bought a Canon 6D with a nifty fifty (seriously the best bang for your buck lens). I started taking some online courses and convinced a few close friends to model for me so I could get some more practice. I also dove into courses on editing in Lightroom and let me tell you… it makes a HUGE difference when you know how to edit!

It helps to have really beautiful models :)

I realized very quickly that photography gave me a unique sense of pride and satisfaction that I hadn’t found in my other work. I just can’t quite explain it, but there’s nothing quite like photographing a family and then later seeing my images on their walls. I just love that I can create images that people will look at for years and years to come and be able to transport themselves back to that point in time. Over time, an idea developed to open a business - with encouragement from my husband, primarily, but also some other friends who saw value in what I was creating. I officially opened shop in late summer 2017 and honestly had no idea what I was getting myself into. Fast forward to 2020! Each year, my business has grown and evolved. I’m so humbled by the process and feel like I appreciate small business owners so much more! It’s one thing to take photos, but running a business is not for the faint of heart! I’m so excited to keep learning and connecting with amazing humans through photography.

Images courtesy of Luner Photography (Tiffany Bohannon)

Thanks for reading my story! Leave me a comment if there’s something I left out that you’d like to know!