08/17/2026
I picked up a real camera for the first time in college when I signed up for a class and STRUGGLED.
I remember sitting through class critiques feeling like my photos were always some of the worst ones on the screen. More than once mine came on screen and I was embarrassed to claim it. It seemed like everyone else was figuring out their settings, lighting, composition, and editing faster than I was.
It just didn’t click for me as quickly. But I liked it enough to keep trying. I saved up money and bought my first real camera, a Canon 80D with two kit lenses. Then I took that thing EVERYWHERE. Josey clinics. ETBU Tennis Matches. Around the ranch. Random outings. Portraits of my friends. If there was something I could photograph, I was probably bringing my camera.
I got made fun of by some teammates for shooting our matches after I was done playing. But, slowly I got better, then a little better. Eventually, those same teammates that made fun of me started to ask for their photos. People around campus started asking me to take photos for them. I got a job in the School's marketing office and started to take photos for Josey's as part of my job. That $1,200 Canon 80D that I invested in while I was in college became a tool that helped me build an entire career.
Photography became content creation. Content creation became marketing. The skills I built opened the door for jobs, those jobs showed me what this could look like if I took it full time on my own. So I did.
In 2020 when I was 21 I started working for myself, and I have loved every minute of it.
I think there’s something worth remembering in all this. You don't have to be naturally good at something to become good at it. You don't have to learn as quickly as everyone around you. And being bad at something in the beginning isn't proof that you should quit.
All you need is determination and the desire to become better.
As a reminder of that, here is one of my first photos shot on the Cannon 80D I bought in college, compared to a photo shot on my Cannon R5 Mark II at the Josey Reunion as the official photographer this year.
Keep Working.