MORGAN’S HISTORY
I’ve been behind a camera for 12+ years. I know you want to know more about how I got here, so let me tell you exactly how it happened.
Where it all started.
Ahh, the beginning of my journey. I’m not much different than a lot of photographers out there in the sense that it started by being gifted a camera. It was a very foreign object in the beginning. Very daunting.
My first camera was a Canon EOS Rebel T3i.
Which back at that time, was super new! I was about to start high school, and somehow I was missing an extracurricular. I decided to take a photography class because 13 year old me did not have the discipline to self teach a DSLR camera to herself.
In this class, I learned the foundations of photography including camera functions, lighting, composition, and editing. A lot of what I shot in my first year was more so to learn those things. I was not focused on having a stunning location or the perfect model. It was back to the basics as one would call it.
After my first year in photography, I decided to also take up videography.
I was in a video production class on top of an advanced photography class by the second half of high school. I went to film and photography camps. And believe it or not, videography taught me more about how to properly compose shots. Essentially, I was introduced to the concept of “storytelling.”
Storytelling is arguably the most important aspect of photography.
That’s because no matter the concept or the subject, each photo should be telling a story. This is something I stand by to this day, and why/how I shoot the way I do. Getting to know my clients and their goals is so important to having a successful shoot because that dictates the entire story.
But what now?
I knew I was a creative after these classes I took but had no idea what to major in in college. As silly as it sounds, I ended up meeting the photographer of the Angels team who said he majored in graphic design. So, I thought, “What the hell.”
Pursuing a higher education.
Could I have gotten by with the high school education I had in photography? Yes. But the thing that was missing was my exposure to more advance techniques and equipment.
I majored in Visual Communication Design.
This is a really broad term. I learned everything design related - drawing, painting, photography, illustration, motion graphics, graphic design. And to be quite honest, I fell out of love with photography. It was all I knew, but I was being introduced to so many new things, that I kind of gave up on it. I still did small photography things on the side because I was a very “stick to your roots” type of girl. But I went into digital design professionally.
I got my first job as a Graphic Designer.
I worked on my college campus for a little over 2 years doing a lottt of illustration and graphic design. I loved it at the time! We had photographers and videographers we worked with, and a part of me was always a little envious of them. I missed being behind the camera, but at the time, I thought it was just because it was my hobby.
I graduated college and got another Graphic Design position.
I got my first big girl job at a marketing agency. I did NOT like it to say the least. I won’t get into the specifics because those don’t matter now, but this job pushed me into a new role that really changed things for me.
Hello, E-commerce!
I landed my first web designer position at a major retail company. As of today, I have been there for over 3 years. And I know this is getting long so let me cut to the chase about how this led me back to photography.
I started leading my own brand.
At this point, I was much more exposed to the art direction side of e-commerce. Campaign imagery, e-commerce shoots, product shoots. We shoot new images every month, so there have been thousands of images I see a day. I started to recognize things I liked about these shots, and things I would do differently. The urge to get behind a camera again was growing at this point. I ended up getting a new camera, the Sony A7ii to be exact. I was doing a lot of small things, unpaid. Just for fun you know. But the more I was doing it, the more I was like “Wow, I’m not half bad.”
More opportunities started arising once I became Creative Director at a social media agency.
I was working with a lot of small - medium sized businesses in the service and product industry. I started to offer shoots to clients, and quickly fell in love with the storytelling aspect of these shoots. And then one day, I just realized this is what I’ve always wanted to do.
Here I am today.
My exposure to these brands really opened my eyes to the importance of brands’ imagery and identity. Your imagery is the first impression your consumer sees. It is essentially what turns them into a client or a customer.
I shot my first brand shoot.
I found I had a real knack for this type of thing. I started reaching out to more brands for shoots and people were really aligning with me and my style. I also really enjoyed researching and practicing for shoots. When I am behind a camera, I feel like myself (as cliche as that sounds).
Now, my focus is solely on brand and e-commerce photoshoots.
When my experience in fashion, brand identity, and e-commerce come together, your vision turns into reality. I think it’s the understanding of all the challenges and rewards that come with being in this industry that I’ve become so fond with. It really enhances my ability to connect with a concept and turn it into something real and beautiful.
