Seriously Considering...

I never was a photographer, in fact, I never really cared about pictures until a year and a half ago. It was New Year's 2008 and my aspiration was to become better at documenting our family. I NEVER picked up a camera, never knew much about the point-and-shoot that I owned and frankly I just always wanted to be more involved in what was going on rather than being stuck behind a camera.

Then I started using my P&S on New Year's...vowing to take pictures of something, ANYTHING, to get in the groove of taking pictures. I figured I'd be off the band wagon within the week so if I got any pics, then GREAT!

I found that I liked getting creative with my pictures, rather than the "Stand here and smile" pics that I was so accustomed to. I liked moving my body (whether it was up high, on the ground, away from the action, etc) to see creatively with the camera, even though I was shooting with a P&S (I don't think I really thought much about fancy dSLR cameras really).

I remember one day that I wanted to look on the internet for things on photography. My only goal was to get better pictures of my son...period. I happened across a blog, The Pioneer Woman, and it forever changed my view of photography. After reading her words and drooling over her pictures, I thought to myself "Hmm, I need to look into these dSLR cameras." Before I knew it, I had gone to our local camera store and purchased my first dSLR camera knowing absolutely NOTHING about such a device.

I knew that I wanted to get out of shooting in AUTO as soon as possible since, what was the purpose of a fancy camera if I didn't utilize its fancy settings? I really sucked but was a willing and able learner that really wanted to know as much about everything: ISO, DOF, aperture, white balance, shutter speed, etc.

Somehow, through it all, I found that photography had become an intense passion for me. I usually find that most things that intrigue me, I become very passionate about because I truly an a learner by nature. I read...A LOT. EVERYTHING. The back of boxes, any and all manuals, websites, the order forms in the middle of catalogs. I just love learning and reading about anything and everything.

Which brings me to today, not particularly this very day, just this day in general. I've had quite a few requests for people to have me take their pictures. I've pushed it away, out of my mind, I've even prayed AGAINST it. Why? Because I always felt that the world didn't need another "professional" photographer. Yet, this door, this path God's created, continues to remains open.

So, I'm kind of putting myself out here for all to see & hear. I'm convinced that I quite possibly need to do photography - it's been consuming my thoughts, dreams, my spare time, etc. I'd be interested in any and all feedback, whether it's that you think that my style and pictures suck and who in their right mind would pay me to give it a shot, I love your style. I really would love to hear anything that pertains to my style, which I believe is doing kind of trendy, colorful images. I mainly am thinking of doing kids and adults but definitely not any formal events like weddings, etc. I'm not cut out for such stress-inducing situations right this moment and really, weddings don't interest me at all. I'm into life-style, on-location, natural light photography, not the pose and matchy outfits pictures.

So what are your thoughts? Should I keep practicing, stop thinking about getting paying customers or go for it?