The session thAT STARTED IT ALL
This session marked the very beginning of my photography journey as a Louisiana lifestyle photographer. I was a 19-year-old college student when my cousin asked if I could take her senior photos—and that one simple question changed everything.
At the time, I was using my mom’s old Nikon B3000 DSLR with a Nikon AF 70–300 mm lens. When I say this camera was old, I mean it might have been older than me. I had just downloaded Lightroom, launched my photography page on social media, and was waiting for clients to start booking senior sessions.
Spoiler alert: no one did.
Looking back, I can laugh at myself now. I hadn’t even photographed a single session yet, but I somehow expected people to line up ready to book. When my cousin asked me to photograph her senior session, I immediately said yes and offered to take the photos for free so I could practice.
We spent over two hours exploring Rosedown Plantation for her senior photos. Everything was going smoothly—until my camera battery died halfway through the session because I forgot to charge it. A true beginner mistake.
When I got home and opened the gallery, I was obsessed. I edited the photos using an Etsy “light and airy” preset and thought they were the best images I had ever created. A few months later, after gaining more experience and developing my editing style, I looked back at that same gallery and cringed.
That moment marked a turning point in my photography journey. I realized my style had grown and evolved, and those early edits no longer represented my work. I eventually rebranded my photography business and re-edited the images before sharing them again because I wanted my portfolio to reflect the photographer I was becoming.
Now, years later, I see this session as one of the most valuable learning experiences of my career. Every photographer starts somewhere, and I’m forever thankful that my first senior session—and the beginning of Hidden Gem Studio—started with my cousin, an old Nikon camera, and a lot of learning along the way.
