I’ve shared my friend April’s beautiful photography here on the blog before (from my birthday celebration this year -in the second part of that post, as well as from Bracken’s birthday.) I asked her to share about her photography business with you today. I’ve always loved your photography, April. Tell us about your photography journey and the process from taking pictures as a hobby to beginning your own business, Little Trees Photography.
April: First of all, thank you! My photography journey really started when I was just a child. I remember a 4th of July in particular, I was maybe 7 or 8 years old, and I walked through the town festivities asking dog owners if I could photograph their canine companions with my cheap polaroid at the time. I gave the owners their shots & was so proud of my work. I continued to dabble in film photography in my teens {generally walking around the woods or on Lake Michigan}, and discovered digital photography in college. Despite my major being in the healthcare field, I found myself entering the local photo competitions and again being drawn to the woods and environmental portraiture for my inspiration. Fast-forward to many years after I graduated and got married, and I became a mother. Motherhood slowed me down a bit. It taught me to relish in the ordinary moments of everyday, as it was going by so quickly. I took photos of my sweet girl and just about everything she did, as many first time mommas do. Then in April of 2014, we welcomed our second daughter. I quickly found myself not so much posing/forcing smiles and incessantly shooting every single thing but instead trying to capture their raw emotions and genuine connection. Ordinary, simple, yet beautiful moments of their daily lives. A friend encouraged me to take a local photography course this past spring, and our final project after 8 weeks was telling a story through a set of photos. My story was about hiking in the woods with my family – the good, the bad, the beautiful. After that project it all clicked. Telling a story, capturing details, emotion … THAT is what I wanted. I began photographing friends and friends of friends, and I was pleasantly surprised how much I loved taking photos of others candid, intimate moments as well. I hadn’t quite expected to love taking photographs of people so much since I had focused on landscape so much of my life… but I was hooked! I officially started ‘Little Trees Photography‘ at the end of that course, and I continue with both personal and client work now.
Taryn here again. For you locals, April is available for lifestyle, maternity, couples, babies/kids, newborns, and documentary/storytelling shoots. The pictures she has taken for our family are absolute treasures to us! Below you can see sampling of her work. And you can find more information on her website.
Thanks for sharing with us today, April!
April says
Taryn,
Thank you so much for sharing this! You are the sweetest 🙂 -April