I'm beginning to lose track of how many guest posts I've featured on JIT, but it's a great thing! The blog is also becoming more photography-oriented, which is fine by me too. Today's post comes from Kim Akrigg, who's written about the interesting and somewhat atypical story of how she became a photographer. Kim comes from my hometown of Vancouver, so be good to her! =)

When I was younger I liked to draw, so my mother put me into art classes. I painted, sketched, and sculpted my way through my earlier years (as well as danced, played the piano, took swimming lessons, horseback rode, skied, and participated in an assortment of other activities but that’s another story). My mom thought I should like photography, but I decided I didn’t think it was a real ‘art’ since all you were doing was pressing a button. She tried and tried to get me into it, buying me an old film camera and disposables, but I didn’t really think much of it.

Then around 12th grade, I started taking photos with a little point and shoot, which led to my first DSLR. I then discovered a blog of Rosie Hardy’s back before I even knew Flickr existed. I was so amazed that someone could take such beautiful photos, and it made me want to be able to do the same. I found an ad in the local paper for a photography class, and signed up. I was hooked, and started carrying my camera everywhere I went, experimenting with self-portraits, but never really wanting to show them to anyone I knew since I was afraid of what they would say.

Finally I started posting some of the photos to Facebook, and getting good responses back. I was getting pretty tired of taking photos of myself but I was too nervous to ask anyone else to model for me. Around then a photographer who had been shooting a lot of my friends asked me to model for him, and he introduced me to Model Mayhem. From there I started shooting some friends, beginning to use make up artists, and my work started to look more how it does now.

It’s a little surreal to me sometimes how something I initially thought I had no interest in has become the only thing I want to do, and it’s even more strange that I’m able to make a career out of it. I can’t really imagine myself wanting to do anything else, it’s the perfect job for me. It’s the right mix of something that’s different with every shoot, creative, and always challenges me a bit and keeps me on my toes. It’s led me to meet such interesting, wonderful people, and to see the beauty that most people don’t notice in the world.