Time to Launch
For much of my life, I have been taking pictures. Being a teenager in the era of extremely photoshopped MySpace profile pictures and 365-day photo challenges on Flickr, I first found interest in photography as many self-discovering teenagers do: taking self-portraits.
Whether evidence of adolescent vanity or merely an outlet for creativity, my family members now relish the opportunity to “blackmail” me with the thousands of self-portraits that are still stored on the family computer. If anyone would browse through the pre-2009 Morgan family archives they would find a wealth of group photos from holiday parties, first-day-of-school portraits, and everyday moments that my parents lovingly captured over the years. However, starting in 2009 they would begin to notice a shift when I began contributing to the family archives.
One of my great uncles, a photographer, and collector of all things digital, gifted me a higher-end point-and-shoot after I expressed my interest in photography. From that day forward I would carry that camera to most events I attended and would often have it on hand just in case I came across a MySpace-worthy shot. In a pre-smartphone era, I began capturing the smaller, candid moments of our Morgan family existence. This style of shooting would become more popular with the introduction of the iPhone and therefore the portable and readily-accessible camera.
Subsequently, our family’s move from California to Texas was a well-documented event, featuring countless moments along the journey and then thorough portraiture of our new life in Arlington.
When I tell people that I have been capturing portraits and events since 2010, I am not kidding. Although my captures have not always been perfectly composed or well-lit, I did learn a valuable lesson in those early years as a photographer: to be on the lookout for the little moments.
Into high school and then college I became known as the “photography friend”. People learned they could count on me to document the little moments that made everyone look back with a special remembrance. I was always buzzing around, content with capturing the things happening around me even if it meant I didn’t get to participate on a deeper level. As a grown woman, I now see that there was some bubbling anxiety and fear of rejection that kept me from going deeper with the people and moments that I found myself capturing. But one good thing that came from being a wallflower was that I got really great at pointing a lens in the right direction at the right time.
(feel free to click any photos that you’d like to see in more detail)
In becoming known as the “photography friend”, people started to ask if I could capture their portraits for various occasions. Little did I know that 2013 would kickstart my love for (and career in) portrait photography.
I’m indebted to the numerous parents, friends, and teachers who saw glimpses of my work through yearbook photos, my artistic Facebook posts, and photoshoots with friends and decided to entrust me with capturing their milestones for them. I’m grateful for friends who asked me to be a second shooter for their wedding photography jobs and for my dear friends who asked me to capture their wedding as a first-time primary shooter.
Now that I have been capturing portraits for families, graduates, couples, and individuals for ten years, I’ve decided it’s time to transform my photography side gig into something intentional and vibrant! Thanks for accompanying me this far, and I look forward to capturing your memories soon.
