Sorry for the long post, I know this is a bit long but I am just excited! :)Today marks my 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY since officially launching my Equestrian career last October 2017!
Things weren't always lovely as roses leading up to my decision to do this professionally. If it wasn't for a few great friends of mine who had a serious chat with me and told me that I should consider doing this as a career, I most likely wouldn't have started when I did. I sat on the idea for a few months and it was during this beautiful Fall evening, sitting at the lake behind my house with a friend of mine, having this exact same discussion, that it hit me that I can do this as a profession.
Regardless of the number of people who told me to wait a few years, get my experience first, then start my business - so that I don't crash and burn. Did it ever cross my mind to hold off? When my heart told me that I could do this, absolutely not! I knew what was ahead and that I had to put some SERIOUS, MAJOR time into getting myself to where I needed to be but I was willing to do whatever it took. I hustled and worked around the clock to put together the building blocks of my business.
Was it risky diving right in the way that I did with zero experience? Heck ya! But I am one who loves to take risks in life because life would be awfully boring if we never took risks. I wouldn't have taken this risk if I didn't believe in myself.
So then I started writing my business plan, which nearly took a month to complete, as some decisions were incredibly difficult to make. I didn't just come to my decisions overnight, I collaborated with friends and others in the Equestrian industry across many disciplines and backgrounds from all across North America to get their insight, since diving into the Equestrian world as a photographer and videographer was all new to me.
Then I moved on to my website, which was a whole other animal to take on altogether.
I had people tell me that I should only focus on one, either Western or English but not both. I was never convinced of this because I knew that it was just the matter of time before I drew interest from the other side. The market in Alberta is too even when you look at the Western audience to the English audience.
Video in the Equestrian world? Serious? What? Why? Who's going to want that? I was almost tempted to leave it out but I went with my gut and decided to keep it intact and I am sure glad that I did. Is there a market for Equine Videography? Absolutely there is, I wouldn't be offering it if I didn't believe there was one. It's just been a little forgotten and it needs to be re-discovered. :) Photography is wonderful, same goes for Videography but they both lack aspects that the other has. So when you put the two together, you have something truly magical.
I love film making, it's an entirely different beast than photography and it requires a completely different skill set. Though photography and videography share many of the core technical aspects, the approach is so different that it's a whole other world altogether.
Thank you for everyone's support, it means the world to me. All the people that I've met and had the opportunity to work with in my first year has been simply wonderful. All the feedback, insight, tips, advice, discussions, debates that I have received (and still do get) is all greatly GREATLY appreciated and I never take any of it for granted. You are all a HUGE factor in determining how my first year progressed.
You get better when you learn from your mistakes. The mistakes that I made in my first year, I will not be making in the second year and so on. Make adjustments, adapt to changes and learn from your experiences.
I can't express in words just how much I am looking forward to my second year in what I consider as me, just "getting started."
In the month of December, I have some great posts coming up, flashing back through the entire year of 2018 such as:
"My best action shot of 2018"
"My favorite discipline to photograph"
"My toughest challenge of 2018 that I've had to work through"
"Top 5 assignments of 2018 that almost happened" (this is one that you won't want to miss!).