2015: A Year of Thanksgiving

2015 has been a year filled with so many moments, lots of laughter, and so much love. When the year first started, I was just recuperating (from my first EVER surgery!). All I had written down was this:

I knew I wanted to move from weddings into photographing families. But apart from wanting to revamp my very dated website, launch a new logo, and possibly set up a social media presence, I had absolutely no clue on how and where I'm going to get my clients! 

Sure I've photographed weddings (together with the awesome team from MTP) for the last couple of years, and have been asked to photograph the occasional family portrait for family and friends (thanks Ben & Jan!) , but to strike out on my own, was and still is, something very scary. Finally, after long talks  (too many to count) with my husband, and a whole lot of emails and skype conversations with my best friend, Kim (the dangerlam) - who was also the awesome illustrator behind my logo and portrait - the revamp of my site was launched on April 26.  And on July 1, I staked my presence on facebook. 

Throughout this year, I've had so many doubts - if my photos were good enough, if I would have clients outside my friends circle, if people are actually willing to pay me for photos - if so how much? When I wasn't working at my full-time job, minutes and hours were spent thinking about how to get myself out there. There were just so many things to do, so little time... and I didn't know where to start. Just when I thought I was making good progress, something sets me back, and throws me for a loop. I've lost count of the many times when I just messaged friends (out of the blue, especially for some I've not spoken to in decades), to ask if they would like to have portraits taken. #ihadtogrowathickskin. And I'm so thankful for those who took me on, and others who encouraged me.

Looking back on 2015, I've celebrated love together with 70 different families, and have had the opportunity to travel three times to Australia (Perth & Melbourne) and once to Singapore, to do what I love - photography! Who knew that God had such big plans for me? He took my 5 small 'loaves' of goals, and turned them into so much more. For this, I'm immensely thankful, and I cannot wait to see what's going to happen in 2016! My cup overflows. 

To all my clients - new and old, who have entrusted me to share in and capture your love; to the ones who've just been so encouraging, you've no idea how those little messages and whatsapp conversations mean to me. From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU and have an amazeball 2016!