“Oh, you’re a photographer?? What’s your website?” For years I dreaded this question. It was a perfectly valid question… and inevitable. After all, how can anyone presume to be a photographer without a website? I limped along for years with noncommittal answers. “My website is under construction right now.” Or, my personal favorite, “I’m in the middle of a rebrand.”

Anyone who asked me this question had the very best of intentions. They wanted to support me. They wanted to follow my work. They wanted to refer me to their friends. I wanted them to be able to do those things, too. But… I didn’t have a website. So how could they? It was like this giant, awkward elephant in the room.

I’ve thought a lot recently about why it’s taken me this long to hit publish on my own photography website. As of today, I have owned a grand total of seven different domain names. Yes, seven. Not one of those fledgling websites ever saw the light of day. It’s not even that I wasn’t fully committed. I love photography, I love people and I love weddings. I was ready to give it my all. When I left my full-time day job in 2017 to be a mom, I really thought that would be the moment where it all changed and I finally gave my business a home. Yet still, I hesitated.

Through all of my soul-searching, I’ve come to the realization that there is just one major roadblock in my way… fear. It was easier to pretend that this was just a small side hobby that I didn’t really care all that much about. Why would pursuing something worthy that I really love be so scary? The truth is, I’m scared because I might fail. I might not be good enough, or I might disappoint someone. Maybe no one will hire me. Maybe no one will like what I create. I allowed a million little doubts to creep in and steal my resolve.

Guess what. No one was hiring me already because I didn’t try. I was disappointing myself because I wasn’t putting myself out there. No one believed in me because I didn’t believe in myself. What did I have to lose? Failure is part of life. We all know this. All of these “epiphanies” I had seem so obvious now. It has been a learning experience for me though. A painful one at times. Despite that fact, I’m showing up here today because I am no longer going to let fear stop me from starting. I’m going to do it scared.

So, I can officially say ”Welcome to my website!” It will never be finished, and it will never be perfect, but I’m doing it anyway. I hope that even if I experience a few bumps in the road, they will just become part of my journey.