"How I Got Started" - Guest post by Teri Hofford

Intro by Skip Cohen

At the beginning of January, in a post called "Why I Love This Blog", I put out a request for an idea for a new weekly feature, "How I Got Started."   Teri Hofford sent me her story.

I want to thank Teri for this post, but there's a funny sidebar. The first image I opened is on the right. Since it was such an amateur looking shot, my first reaction was to not open any other images. It wasn't until I actually read Teri's story that I realized she was only twelve when she took this image. Seriously, how many of us actually have our first image or even remember what it was?

If you'd like to find out more about Teri and her work, check out her site.

In terms of future stories about how you got started, here's what I'm looking for. Who's been your inspiration? What made you fall in love with photography? This is real simple and meant to be fun, not feel like a homework assignment from when you were a kid. It's 200-400 words, (I'm happy to edit it for you) a head shot of you, a link to your website and 1-2 images you're most proud of. Images only need to be 5x7 equivalent at 72 dpi...and obviously YOURS!  Send it all to my email, skip@mei500.com. 
 
Okay, so who's next to share how they got started?

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Growing up in a small town, my fashion inspiration as a child was the Sears catalogue plus my mom's sewing pattern books.  I used to love looking through these and decided one day in grade 7 to take my awesome Kodak Point and Shoot to school, I put the grade one kids up on the play structures like I saw in the pattern books and took some "amazing" shots.  I came across one the other day and have included it here.  

Fast forward to 2005 and I find myself 23 and in Busan, South Korea.  I wanted to get into plus size modeling so I purchased my first "big" camera (Olympus E-Volt 500) and starting taking pictures of myself.  I soon realized that I enjoyed being BEHIND the camera much more than being in front of it.  

Once I got back to Canada I started working as a part time photographer to grow my craft, doing weddings and portraits.  It was within the last 3 years that I finally quit my full time job and launched photography full time.  I now run a successful wedding and boudoir business and haven't looked back since.  In fact, one of the girls in the first picture ended up being one of my brides!  I like to think that both my work and fashion inspiration have improved significantly since grade 7.  I love looking at my past work to see how far I have come and hope to continue growing.

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Images copyright Teri Hollord. All rights reserved.