I thought I would take this time to be transparent with everyone! If you follow me at @mandymariedoulaphotography, you’ve probably noticed a lot of changes. Aside from the name change of my handle (more importantly my whole company), I have been posting more, running ads, etc. What you aren’t seeing however, is all the education I have been absorbing also! -Classes, memberships, podcasts on business advice (shout out to Jenna Kutcher’s podcast Goal Digger). –

All of this and you may be thinking….”hmm…I thought she was a doula?” Well good news! I still am a doula. But even better news, I am photographer now as well! Can you tell by the way I hold my camera? HA!

Jokes aside – I wanted to get real with you all! I am now a photographer as well because of a few different reasons:

1) I LOVE it! Seriously – this is my first “vocation” that I have had that comes from a purely joy ridden place for me. As you may know, I danced growing up and I didn’t realize I was desperately missing this creative outlet until I started taking pictures. (No joke – I have been dancing a lot more lately around my new kitchen and for my son…so you can really tell my creative juices have been awakened haha). Every single career I have had has been rooted in helping and serving others, and in a way – photography still is that. These careers have brought me IMMENSE joy as well, I will always greatly appreciate the delight of helping others. But with photography, the joy is innate. There’s no goal that has to be accomplished in order receive that gladness (i.e. the person feels loved and “helped”). The delight simply comes from feeling the weight of my camera, looking through the viewfinder, and waiting for that perfect angle, smile, look etc.

2) That reason alone is probably a good reason to be a photographer, but there are two more reasons! Second reason, being a 3 to 4 client a month doula is HARD with a baby/toddler. (Especially one who sleeps as little as my son hah). I used to be on call for full months, back to back. But it became pretty clear right away after my son was born that that was just not going to work with me and my family! I have found out that the sweet spot for me, is to have only one labor doula client per month. Having photography clients supplement this dip in doula clients works GREAT. I can be away for 2hrs (usually) at a time to photograph cute families, then come home and do the rest from home! Any other WFH lovers? – BIG plus for this introvert –

3) The last reason? I have the BEST mentors, friends and encouragers. My dear friend (who took the picture of me up top), has a true talent when it comes to photographing motherhood. When I was first starting to post photos from births (as a doula), she told me that I had a great eye for photography. It has been her mentoring and guiding that has boosted the quality of my photos as well as my confidence in pursuing this! She’s a real role model because of her determination to always learn more. On top of that, I have a few other friends and most importantly my husband encouraging me to really dive into this new venture!

What do you think? Wouldn’t you do it? Start another career at the age of 31 because of all the reasons listed above? Well I am DOING IT and I hope you will follow along to see how this ride plays out. Excited, is such a measly word to describe how I feel about it all. ❤️