I guess there’s no one particular moment that explains why I became a photographer. There are a lot of various events that kind of led me to where I am today, but let it be known that at no point in my childhood did I think to myself, “I think I want to be a wedding photographer someday.” It was always going to be teaching or marine biology. Teaching definitely won out.
In high school they had photography classes where you actually shot on film and developed in the darkroom, but I was a band geek and photography ALWAYS conflicted with band. So, band always won out.
My parents got me my first digital camera for my 17th birthday, and I remember thinking it was SO big because it wasn’t a sleek point and shoot camera. They gave it to me because they knew just a few short months later I’d be travelling internationally, for the first time, to Australia. It was on that trip that I really started to grow fascinated with photos. I had people ask me if I took any photography classes because they looked so good (looking back now, I have NO idea what they saw in those photos, hahah), to which I always replied “nope.”
When I was in college, I actually purchased my very first DSLR out of envy.
Betcha you didn’t see that one coming! A friend of mine had a “fancy” camera and I loved the photos she had taken, and that somehow sparked a desire in me to get a new camera. And I don’t remember for sure, but I’m pretty sure I bought my Nikon d5000 with a line of credit with Dell, haha. As I mentioned in THIS blog post about how I got here, once I started taking photos of things, people started to notice and then things snowballed!
I know I’ve talked about why I love being a photographer before and while that still is true today, I think that my “why” has changed.
You see, I don’t want to be a photographer just for the sake of being a photographer. I get this really neat opportunity to be a part of someone else’s life for about a year leading up to one of their most important days of their life. I get to share my platform (this blog and social media) with hundreds, and sometimes thousands of people and share my heart behind what I do. I have this business because I want to impact marriages.
In a world where the divorce rate is 50% and people don’t take marriage as seriously anymore, I want to show others what a healthy marriage is. Notice I said “healthy” and not “perfect.” I want to show others that Steven and I also face struggles and hard times, but we work through them and come out better because of it. I want to show others that you don’t have to get going when the going gets tough.
I know that relationships are very complex, but if I can impact ONE person and show her that she deserves better in a partner and prevents her from getting into an unhealthy marriage, then everything is worth it.
If I can impact ONE couple to do the hard work and work through a struggle instead of just giving up, then everything is worth it.
I’m not naive to think that I can cure everything that may be an issue in someone else’s relationship, but I DO believe that I was given this skill and this platform to change lives. And I believe that I can change lives by being honest about my relationship (8 years strong!) instead of a perfectly curated feed that may make someone else feel alone.
At the time, that’s not why I became a photographer, but that’s why I’m STILL a photographer.
Linda is a Portland-based photographer specializing in weddings and creating family legacies from Portland to Boston and across New England. You can see more of her work online at lindabarryphotography.com, on Instagram, or on Facebook. If you want to reach out directly: linda@lindabarryphotography.com.
Linda is a Portland-based photographer specializing in weddings and creating family legacies from Portland to Boston and across New England. You can see more of her work online at lindabarryphotography.com, on Instagram, or on Facebook. If you want to reach out directly: linda@lindabarryphotography.com.
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