Lucy B. Photography | My Photography Journey | Arizona Elopement Photographer
Lucy B. Photography | My Photography Journey | Arizona Elopement Photographer
Hey there. This blog post is a little different. I thought I’d tell you all a little bit about me! Your friendly neighborhood elopement photographer! If you’ve been following along for a while, you may be wondering how I got here.
How did I, of all people, get to be an intimate wedding and elopement photographer in Arizona?
Me, this girl from the Midwest who grew up wanting to be a writer (true story)? In today’s blog post, I’m gonna explain a bit about my journey with photography, because it’s a pretty long and winding one. I’m not like a lot of folks in my industry. I didn’t one day pick up a camera and decide, “hey, I like this thing and I’m gonna make a business out of it!” Those people are amazing to me because if you asked me even 5 years ago if I thought I’d ever own a business, I’d probably question your sanity.
So, I’ll start from the beginning, try not to ramble, and share some photos along the way (get ready for some fabulous late ‘00s and early ‘10s fashions).
Yeah, you’re welcome. 🙃
Anyway… I’ve always loved taking pictures. I don’t know where the urge came from, but it’s always been there. And others definitely noticed my affinity for it before I ever did. I would take a camera everywhere just because I wanted to, but then my tech teacher in junior high would ask to use my photos for the yearbook, and my summer camp administrators wanted to use them in the annual slideshow. Even as a tween, my photos were being used for other purposes and making people happy. It never crossed my mind back then that it could one day be a career.
I kept up the hobby and eventually became the bane of my friends’ existence, always taking photos of them at random times (they secretly loved it though :P and would ask for photos when they wanted a new profile pic). And even dubbing myself the “official photographer” of my friends’ band.
(Disclaimer: Yes, I am quite aware that these photos are Not Good or Quality in Any Way. 😂 I just took them for fun!)
Aren’t these just so delightfully (and horrifyingly) high school?
After a couple years of annoying the hell out of my friends, I started realizing that I actually was interested in photography. And I was very curious about film photography. So my senior year of high school, I took my first darkroom photography class. And eeeeverything changed.
I LOVED the darkroom. And in general just using my 35mm camera. In addition to my projects, I kept taking photos like I always had, but now on film. And I started getting a bit more artistic with it. It’s amazing how film can make you appreciate what you’re capturing so much more.
After that class, I went to college thinking I’d like to be an art minor. I was still set on being a writer. However, one single literary analysis class set me straight. :P And after I was finally able to take photography (still film) my sophomore year, I knew for sure that I wanted to be an art major. And so it was.
I won’t take you through every single photography project I did in those classes. But I will tell you, one day my professor handed around a book and had us each pick a photo we liked and why it was an example of our favorite subject matter. I hadn’t really thought about it up until that point, but it became obvious to me, as I picked a photo of some people on a porch, that my favorite subject matter was people. And it also became clear to me that it always had been. I’ve always found people most fascinating. I love a good landscape or macro shot, but I find it way more dynamic and interesting when people are involved. That’s probably why I was always sticking my camera in my friends’ faces instead of taking macro shots of flowers.
Over time, my projects morphed into what eventually became my capstone, which I called “The Psychology of the Subject.” I learned early on that subjects generally don’t like it when you don’t give them any direction. For some reason, I had thought the opposite. In the above project, I brought my subjects to this snowy lot and told them to do whatever they want, thinking they’d enjoy that and have fun. Pretty much all of them expressed frustration at having no direction (but then ran around and awkwardly did stuff 😂).
I sadly don’t have scans of any of the in-between projects, but basically, leading up to my capstone, I did a series of projects in which I used a large format camera (the kind you need to go under a sheet to operate), put a subject in front of a white backdrop, and then simply told them to “pose!” and then took a photo of whatever they did. It started out as “boys can’t pose” (because of my professor remarking that all the boys in my projects were especially awkward), then morphed into seeing the different reactions of people in different majors, and then my capstone, where I just used anyone (and gave them a survey to gather demographic info and how it made them feel). I basically found out that NO ONE likes having no direction in front of a camera. I have the photos from my capstone:
That’s just 6 of the 40 people I photographed for it. It was hard work, but a lot of fun. (That’s what happens when you find your passion, eh??)
All right, y’all, this is getting LENGTHY. 😂 Now that I’ve set up the foundation for you, I’m gonna try to speeeeed it up to the present. The foundation is the most important part, after all.
Where were we? Ah, yes. I graduated college with my art degree, thinking I’d like to start working at a gallery or nonprofit. However, I quickly found out that I despise working in an office, even for a creative organization. I wanted to actually be out taking pictures. But, having studied fine art photography, I was wary of being a ~wedding photographer~ or other such thing. It felt like “selling out.” (Lame and dumb, I know.) Yet I also had no real interest in making art just to put it in a gallery.
After a year having pretty much no idea what to do or how to get anywhere, I decided to uproot my life and move to Germany for a year to be an au pair. Turns out, this was a great decision. Not only did I gain an amazing family in Germany, but that year, which was basically like pressing “pause” on my life, really gave me some clarity in what I wanted to do. I had followed a whole bunch of photographers on Instagram and their passion and beautiful photos convinced me that it was something I might actually enjoy and I should give it a shot.
I got back to the States and started planning how I would do this. Eventually, I got a full-frame DSLR and then a 50mm lens and officially started shooting. I tried solo portraits, families, and couples, and discovered that the latter was my favorite. I didn’t want to do couples and weddings just because everyone else was. I wanted to make sure I really liked it. And I really, really do. :)
After going to The Heart Workshop in Malibu, I discovered that adventurous elopements and couples are where my heart is really at. Two people, maybe a few guests, out in the natural beauty of the world, pledging their love for each other. It doesn’t get much better than that.
After about a year and a half of photographing weddings, elopements, and couples in Chicago, I finally got out of the Midwest (a dream I had since graduating college) for real and moved to Tucson, Arizona. That was about two months ago. Here I am. Ready to pursue this passion of mine in a place that will really let me do it the way I want to. ❤
Ooookay, guess I didn’t speed it up as much as I wanted. But so be it. That’s my story. Did any of it surprise you? Can you relate? I hope you got something out of it, even if it’s just getting to know me a bit better. :) And THANKS for reading the whole thing. I know I can ramble… Now back to our regularly scheduled content!
