10 Years of Michelle A Photography
As many of you know, I have been blogging every Tuesday for many, many years of my business so with this blog post landing in the middle of my 10 days of celebrations you know it HAD to be an awesome one. So it got me thinking about what exactly I should share about today. Originally, I figured I would simply share the origin story of how Michelle A Photography came to be but I have a post to share about that planned. I have also blogged about that topic before over the years.
But then, it came to me. Who doesn’t LOVE a good throwback!
10 years is a LONG time, some days it hits me that I have been running this business for 10 years and other days I am in awe that it has been so long. I was 21 when I began my business and now I am 31. So many things have happened over the last 10 years professionally and personally, so today on the blog I am sharing milestones, memories and throwbacks from 2013-2023!
Now like I said, 10 years is a long time, so I went through things and ended up picking and choosing what to include in this post. And I feel like this goes without saying but this is not going to be a short and sweet post. This is probably one of the longest blog posts I have ever written and put together.
Without further adieu, please enjoy reminiscing with me over 10 years of Michelle A Photography!
Year 4 to Year 10!
This may seem out of character for me as I do love to capture milestones and anniversaries in my business A LOT!
But I didn’t actually begin to celebrate or acknowledge by biz anniversary until year 3 and start taking photos until year 4. I spent my 3rd year anniversary in business at a workshop in Peterborough and when it dawned on me that it was indeed the anniversary of registering my business licence, I figured why not start celebrating every year of Michelle A Photo!
The first set of throwbacks, are my anniversary photos over the years!
Milestones & Moments
Man oh man, some super exciting things have happened over the past 10 years. And by some, again I mean lots! Instead of chatting about everything that happened, I have chosen my absolute top ‘wins’ in my business as well as some in my personal life.
Features & Wins
I have had the pleasure of being featured and entering some photography competitions over the years. I have had my work featured in magazines twice and even made the cover of The Wedding Ring last year! Making that cover will forever be one of my favourite memories in my business. Not only was it incredible to be featured but it was with one of my all time favourite weddings!
I also won 2nd place in the Wedding Detail category of a huge world wide photography competition back in 2017! I remember the day I found out my image placed so high, Tylor and I were in Toronto to see my favourite band live and we had also picked up our wedding licence that day. Talk about an all around amazing day!
Bridal Shows & Branding
In 2015, I began attending the London Bridal Expo to market my business. It was a brand new experience for me and I continued to do their two shows a year up until the pandemic hit in 2020.
When I began the shows, my branding looked pretty different than it does now. My colours were mint green, pink and grey. My logo was more whimsical and I did not have my personal style completely nailed down yet. In 2017, I rebranded into what Michelle A Photography looks like today. I swapped my logo for something more modern, changed the colours to blues, yellows, pinks and teals and really focused on showcasing my colourful, joyful and candid style!
I booked some incredible weddings and couples from doing these shows and will forever be grateful for everyone I met. From clients to vendors these shows allowed me to network and target the couples who would end up becoming my friends!
Workshops & Education
Owning a business comes with a lot of curveballs and mistakes. Although I attended the Fanshawe Photography Program and graduated back in 2012, there were LOTS of things that needed to be learned while doing.
I have invested in education over the years and although I am not going to get into all of the online courses I have taken, I do want to mention the in-person workshops and investing in a business coach!
I attended my first workshop in 2015, it was called The Refresh Workshop with a well known photographer based in Peterborough. It was an incredible experience, I got to meet photographers from all over Ontario, Canada and even the US. We chatted about all things business and even got to capture a styled couples shoot in studio.
In 2019, I made the last minute decision to attend The Monarch Wedding Workshop in Leamington with a photographer who I actually met at The Refresh Workshop. I am so glad I chose to go, it was a relaxed afternoon with lots of amazing information, snacks and the coolest styled shoot ever! Like who wouldn’t want to shoot with smoke bombs!
And last, but certainly not least, in 2021 I ended up signing up for a 6 month coaching course with The Photography Business Coach. It was hands down one of the best investments I have ever made into my business! It was a great way to really dive into what I needed to improve on and have someone pretty much hold my hand while doing so. If you are a photographer and looking for a business coach, I can not recommend Richelle enough!
Fun Memories
What would a throwback blog post be without some fun memories from over the years! Again, I found myself having quite a few to choose from so I needed to narrow it down. I chose 4 of my all time favourite memories to share about today!
The Drag Queen Cameo
When I met Julia and Matt, we really bonded over our mutual love for Ru Paul’s Drag Race. When I arrived on their wedding day back in 2020, during getting ready Julia showed me the Cameo that Matt had gotten her from one of her favourite queens from season 12, Heidi in Closet. I think the image my second shooter captured really speaks for itself on how excited I was about it!
Photographing a Baby Cow
When I arrived for Brooke and Remco’s engagement session in 2020 I knew that I was heading to a farm but I had no idea what I was in for. We got to start their session off with a little baby cow, and I could not have been more excited!
Capturing my Best Friends Engagement, Wedding & Anniversary Photos
I have had the pleasure of capturing a lot of different couples over the years, but something will always be so special about getting to document my bestie, Kelsey and her husband Greg’s memories. I met Kelsey and Greg many years ago when we worked at Future Shop together and Kelsey and I have been best friends ever since! I am so honoured that she asked me to capture all of her relationship milestones and I am so thankful every day that she is in my life!
Photographing a Wedding in BC
In 2018 one of my dreams and bucket list items came true when I got to capture Tiffany and TJ’s wedding in Trail British Columbia! My husband Tylor grew up with TJ so he was asked to be a groomsman while I was asked to be the photographer. We truly fell in love with the mountains on that trip and we hope to go back to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary!
Personal Milestones
When it comes to personal milestones over the last 10 years, 3 comes to mind as being the BIGGEST.
Adopting Samson in 2015, getting married to my high school sweetheart in 2017 and buying our first house together in 2021!
10 Years of Michelle A Photography the Weddings
As mentioned, I really needed to narrow down and pick and choose what to share today. This was especially true when it came to my images! In the spirit of not making this post incredibly long (aka longer then it already is) I chose some faves from each year’s weddings!
I am not going to get into breaking down every single year, I don’t think I could even if I wanted to, but please enjoy scrolling through weddings all the way back to when I first started in 2013 up until my most recent wedding this past February in 2023!
2013
2014
2015
2016
(The Year I went Full Time)
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
Thank You!
If you made it this far, thank you! Thank you to everyone who has supported Michelle A Photography over the past 10 years, thank you to my amazing clients and couples, my best friends who have been by my side and my family who supports me every day!
I am so excited for what the rest of my 10 days of celebrations holds and to ring in to official anniversary on March 20th 2023!
Thank you for checking out my throwback of 10 years of Michelle A Photography!
Sincerely,
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“Michelle is a featured and award winning London Ontario Wedding Photographer, who loves to capture unique relationships and create lasting memories! Behind the camera, I am a wife to my high school sweetheart, a mom to a little corgi named Samson, a collector of cute pins and supporter of small business!”
