I absolutely love what I do. From newborn sessions, to weddings, I really enjoy everything I photograph. But it's not just the photography aspect, I also enjoy the business aspect. The emails, the research, meetings and the marketing. I truly love every part of being a photographer. But how did I come to this chapter of my life. When I was a small kid did I say "I want to be a photographer when I grow up!" No, more likely I probably said " I want to be a vet" Or "When I grow up I want to be a teacher", or something else typical of a 6 year old to say. So at what point in my life did I turn to photography as a career?
As a child I was always divulged in the artistic world. In the second grade my grandmother had me painting water colour landscapes, many of which are still hanging on the walls of my parents home. I took art classes outside of school, after hours, and all my high school classes revolved around any for of art I could take, including photography. During that time photography was slowly shifting from film to digital. I lucky enough to experience both worlds of photography. I developed my own film and photos and dabbled in with photo shop programs.
During high school my biggest ambition was to become a high school art teacher. I spend all my time in the 12th grade planning on becoming just this. I had back plans for my back up plans. But once I got into school for it, that goal turned into everything I hoped it wouldn't be. I couldn't stand the program and my vision started to dissolve. After that I had new found life in the graphic design program at Niagara College. I loved it. And my plans became starting my own ad agency, or working at some fancy magazine.
Now up to this point, although I had spend a considerable amount of time, practicing and studying photography, it was just a hobby for me and something I could apply to my graphic design skill set. If I was bored I would grab a friend and have him or her model for me in some random field in the middle of no where. I was working as a server and trying to figure out what my next step was. A friend of mine worked at one of the big hotels in town. There she meet a man who wanted to capture his proposal to his soon to be fiancé. The hotel had given him the name a photographer who never got back to him. Here was this poor man who was panicking last minute trying to find someone who could capture a major milestone for him. My friend saw this as a great opportunity for me and passed my information onto him.
The moment comes to meet the couple. He has convinced her that I was a local tour guide who did private tours and showed tourists local hot spots. I'm very glad she didn't start asking me any questions about things I didn't know. And I'm also not sure how she didn't suspect something, as they were both dressed to the nines in a suit and evening dress to walk around the main stream tourist area of Niagara, but she didn't. The groom to be and I has previously discussed a perfect location for the big moment. She was focused on me, doing various poses for the camera, so much that she didn't her soon to be groom bending down on one knee and pulling out the tiny box until he patted her hand and she looked down. The pictures almost made a flip book of the moment, the look of surprise on her face as she realized she was being proposed to by the love of her life! And that moment I realized for myself that this was something I could actually build a career doing. It was something I loved to do anyway and how often to people get to say that they love their jobs.
After that I started my photography business, during that time it was by my name, Amanda Chesher Photography. But people seemed to have a hard time spelling my last name, making hard for people to find me. I decided I need a change. But finding a name that encompassed all the niches of photography I capture posed to be quite the task. It couldn't be too cutesy, even though I photograph kids, but it couldn't be too romantic even though I photograph weddings, and it couldn't be too sensual even though I photograph boudoir. I spent weeks trying to come up with something. They say that inspirations comes in many forms and boy is that saying every true! I had pulled up to McDonalds and was reading the drive thru menu when I came across the words 'icing sugar' and thought. "OMG! That works for it all!!!". After all that hard work, that is all it took for me to come up with the name Icing Sugar Photography.
Since that time, about 7 years ago, I have met so many amazing people and have made tons of new and awesome friends. I have share so many beautiful moments with strangers, and learned a great deal about myself. I have grown both on a personal level as well as an professional one. I learned new tricks and explored some astounding locations. I have ate some delicious wedding cake, held adorable babies and shared some important milestones. Not a day goes by that I am not thankful that I get to what I do and enjoy all of these little bonus's. I can't wait to keep expanding, growing and learning. And I am so glad that you are all here to be join me in this incredible journey.
As a child I was always divulged in the artistic world. In the second grade my grandmother had me painting water colour landscapes, many of which are still hanging on the walls of my parents home. I took art classes outside of school, after hours, and all my high school classes revolved around any for of art I could take, including photography. During that time photography was slowly shifting from film to digital. I lucky enough to experience both worlds of photography. I developed my own film and photos and dabbled in with photo shop programs.
Now up to this point, although I had spend a considerable amount of time, practicing and studying photography, it was just a hobby for me and something I could apply to my graphic design skill set. If I was bored I would grab a friend and have him or her model for me in some random field in the middle of no where. I was working as a server and trying to figure out what my next step was. A friend of mine worked at one of the big hotels in town. There she meet a man who wanted to capture his proposal to his soon to be fiancé. The hotel had given him the name a photographer who never got back to him. Here was this poor man who was panicking last minute trying to find someone who could capture a major milestone for him. My friend saw this as a great opportunity for me and passed my information onto him.
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