I don’t celebrate many anniversaries but I decided that this one was worth not ending up under the door! Yes, I entered the world of photography 15 years ago! I also wanted to share some photos of my first real camera, a Lumix…I still have its battery!

f I had to describe myself with positive adjectives, I would pick: artistic, dreamer, idealist, open minded, communicative, relational, socially aware, cooperative, genuine, reserved. Now I can confirm that “artistic, communicative and relational” have been substantially enforced thanks to my photographic adventure.

Quite often big things start small, in a quiet, unplanned way and this was my case…Photography was and is a journey. When I started in early May 2009, I was taking architecture and street photography snapshots during my spare time. I was unstructured and NAIVE but I still believe that being naive to high possibility of failure is what pushed me forward. Honestly, I feel more nervous and fearful before portrait sessions now than I was years ago! I did not stick with a plan nor did I had a vision. I did not hope for success and I never imagined that I might be THAT successful one day. However, I was dreaming of producing pictures that gave me goosebumps. Photography was a pastime that became an increasingly valuable hobby. It made me feel less lonely and more fulfilled. It pulled out of me an acting capacity. It contributed to reinforce my self-confidence and it allowed me to open up more and to discover a RADIANT side I was unaware of. It is a platform that still CONNECTS me with other people.

It took me TIME to realise that what fired me up most are people, especially family dynamics. Even though it has never been a profession for me and I doubt that it will ever become one day as, from my character point of view, I have always felt the need of financial certainty and economic cornerstones that a freelance activity would not give me, this activity takes a big part of my heart and makes me thrive as I feel myself fully into it.

Photography taught me:

1. To overcome the fear of making mistakes and to learn by experience. I took a photography course in 2010 and, since then, I have exchanged with many photographers, but I don’t hold a photography degree. I learnt more and way faster “on the field” trying and making mistakes, especially by shooting manually. Photographers are the ones who do the work and shoot manually…. not the camera.

2. Quality wins. It is priceless to give someone beautiful images that they will cherish for a lifetime.

3. As photographers, we will use our personality to SERVE clients. I have received a lot of appreciation, affection, good marketing 🤗 from people I have been working with in the past 15 years, but I have also GIVEN them a lot in terms of time, commitment, vision, adaptability, understanding their needs, putting them as 1st during the shoot, willingness to improve.

4. THRIVING in what you do is a game changer. Hey, there must be joy and a funny factor! It is not only a question of delivering good pictures, it is the whole experience that matters and the positive impact and connection you can establish with people!

5. Last but not least, DEDICATION is prized…always!