One year ago, I decided to buy my first DSLR camera. To justify the cost, I set a goal to completely pay off my camera by the next Christmas season. I had never shot on a manual setting before and knew nothing about getting proper exposure. All I knew was that I loved the feeling of capturing something beautiful and I wanted to learn as much as I possibly could. I read as many blogs as I could find and practiced, practiced, practiced! I poured hours of my day reading and learning about my camera, posing, lighting, etc. I found that it was the one thing that gave me energy. I could get caught up in my camera for hours on end and never get tired.

Throughout this entire year, I have been so fortunate to have friends and family that support my dreams. Most everyone that I asked to model for me quickly agreed, and we always had so much fun. My childhood friend, Abby, and I went on several photoshoots during our winter breaks from college and some of my favorite images came from these shoots as well! These are some of the first images that I shot on my new camera, so I think they turned out pretty well!

Thankfully I was able to convince my sister and her boyfriend to let me take some pictures of them back in January. They were the first couple that I had ever taken pictures of, so I had no clue what I was doing. After wandering around for an hour or so, we were having a great time giggling and laughing with each other. We had finally found great light and a beautiful location, so here are some of my favs!

For the next 6 months, I practiced as much as I could, but let’s be honest. As a full time college student, it was hard to find time to practice what I was learning, let alone coordinating schedules with a friend for a photoshoot. However, I took my camera wherever I could and snapped pictures of practically everything. As summer rolled around, I began to take my photography more seriously. If I wanted to sell my services, then I would need to let people know that! In order to do that, I ordered business cards and spent hours after work every night working on a website. The long hours certainly paid off, and soon after I booked my first, paid family portrait session at the beginnning of August (Yippee!!!). This family was so sweet and their little kiddos were just adorable! (insert heart-eyed emoji here!!) These are just a few of my favorites.

From here, I continued to build my portfolio through photographing some adorable kiddos! Seriously so adorable. I mean, look at that tutu!!! I found some really great props in my grandma’s garage (that place is full of hidden treasures!) so we incorporated lots of little props into this shoot.

The next major business decision for the year was hosting fall mini sessions. Thanks to some great friends who helped me spread the word, I was able to book several sessions over the course of a couple weeks. I got to meet so many new people and even though we took the majority of the pictures on the coldest and windiest day of fall, we all had a great time!! A little cold never hurt anyone, right?? 😉

Aside from families, my true passion lies in photographing couples. This fall I had the honor of photographing 3 engagement sessions with one of them being my big diamond sister’s and another one of my sweet friends from high school. Each session had its challenges, but that’s the fun part!! They give me an opportunity to learn something new about my camera, or a new pose, and for that I am thankful. Here are a few of my favorites! Believe me, I could hardly narrow this down!!

The most exciting part about this year is that I photographed my first wedding!! Kimmy contacted me early in the fall about photographing her Christmas Wedding. I was so incredibly excited that she trusted me to capture her big day. Everything went smoothly and we were able to capture a lot of beautiful portraits! Here is the sneak peek from last week – I don’t want to give too many away!! (Stay tuned for that blog in the next couple of weeks!)

As the year went on, I noticed more and more people expressing interest in my photography. I loved what I was doing, so I decided to officially legalize myself as an LLC. As of October 11, 2015, my business is officially legal within the state of Ohio as Kelsie Lynn Photography, LLC. How exciting is that?! Also, I think it’s safe to say that I met my goal 😉

Well, it’s been an exciting 2015 thus far and I absolutely cannot wait to see how the Lord provides in 2016! Thank you all so incredibly much for your love and support.