Photographed With Love // How It All Started
Snapshot of my photography journey…
It occurred to me one day that not everyone knows my story. Not everyone know why and how I started my photography business. So I thought, let’s get back to basics and share my story so that you can get to know me better and perhaps even relate to my story.
It was in 2002 when I received my very first camera. Admittedly, it was my mom’s as she travelled quite a bit and took photos to share with us. It was an Olympus film camera and there was no preview back on the back of the camera. So whenever you clicked the shutter, you hope that the photos will turn out great when you develop it! It takes around 1 week for the photos to be develop and only then, will you be able to review your work! If it was blurry or shaky, you would just have to accept it as that was the only copy you have! Also, each film had a limited number of photos that you could take, so I had to be very mindful of that. Even back then, films were not cheap, so it was a fairly expensive ‘toy’ for 12 year old me! I’m sure some people can relate to this.
I remember taking photos of our family at home as practice and when we went for our first Europe trip as a family, I was tasked to be the family photographer and document places we visited and activities that we did. Oh boy did I have heaps of fun! Once we got back home, mom developed all the films and stored every single photo, even the blurry ones, in multiple photo albums. My family was pleasantly surprised at my photography skills as they said I took some great shots! That was honestly one of the key moments in my life as that triggered my passion for photography.
Fast forward couple of years, digital camera was a thing and I really wanted to get my hands on it. So for my 14th birthday (2004), I requested for a digital camera as my birthday present. I had no idea about what camera brand was amazing at that time but my family delivered! I received a Sony Cyber-shot digital camera, which was quite popular then. It’s compact small and compact size meant that I was able to carry it with me everywhere I went. Whether it was an outing with friends or events at school, or even family outings, I had my handy camera with me. I was known as the photographer by all my friends because of that! When it was time for us to fill up the school yearbook with photos, everyone came to me to get photos that I took of them throughout the year.
After using my Sony digital camera for many years, it eventually decided to retire. My university mates at that time knew how much I love taking photos, so they all chipped in to get me a Canon PowerShot digital camera with image stabiliser. This was in 2009 and the image stabiliser is a big deal let me tell you! Very grateful to my friends as they kept my love for photography going. I then realised that I wanted to take things more seriously and started saving up for a second hand DSLR camera. In 2011, I purchased my very first Canon DSLR 600D and it came with the starter kit lenses. I was super excited to actually own a DSLR with 2 zoom lenses! Another big moment in my photography journey.
Following that, I graduated university in 2012 and my main focus was how can I remain in Australia and get a job. I landed a lovely marketing job in Bondi before moving on to working for a tech company in the city. After years working the 9 to 5 job, I realised that I was not fulfilled and wanted to do something more with my life. So in 2017, I told my boss that I wanted to resign and pursue my passion in photography and start my own photography business! That’s when Photographed With Love was born and I am super proud that I made that leap. So here I am today, running my own business and making sure that all your photos are Photographed With Love.