I'm walking on the clouds, head in the sky, comfortably at an all time high.

I hope you like reading stories about someone you don't know all that well because that's pretty much what this post is going to be. Ready? Go!

A couple of days ago, I took senior portraits of a classmate of mine. I was terrified in all honesty. This would be my first PAID session, I was getting ACTUAL money from doing ACTUAL work on these photos. How could I not be scared? "What if I mess this up?" "What if they all turn out blurry and improperly lighted?" "I'm going to kill my own dream because I know I'll forget to fix certain parts of the photo!" My mind constantly buzzed with reminders to adjust this and that with my camera while we worked on shooting. My friend's mother who came along was already in love with the photos she could see on the camera display, maybe I was doing just fine. The morning ended, and I headed home to begin editing and fixing. I erupted. So many of the shots were too bright, the sun gave awkward glare on a few of the shots and I was terrified again.

I fixed what I could and sent off a file filled with shots for them to pick their favorites for deeper editing. Within the hour of sending the e-mail, my buddy had texted me he and his mother were so excited and very happy with the work I HAD DONE, saying it was comparable to professional work. I was elated and hadn't felt that good in awhile. I finished the finals and they were posted online for the world to see. Everyone loved them! Compliments and praise rolled in and threw me up to Cloud 9. I still can't believe I did that great of work but it did push me even harder to keep working on my dream and that I shouldn't think so low of myself.

Moral of the story is to give praise where it is due. Just a simple compliment to remind someone that the work they're doing is good and not done in vain boosts their confidence exponentially. If it weren't for the positive feedback from friends and family on my work, my own doubt might've eaten away at me until I just stopped trying. I thank God that wasn't that case. I'm thankful for my own talent that I CAN SEE IN MYSELF and I hope to go even further with photography.