I cannot begin to describe how wonderful this year has been.

I started 2021 with what I thought were nearly impossible and unreachable goals, and with hard work and dedication and pouring my heart and soul into everything I did. I surpassed EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. 

When I started this all I said I wanted to do ten shoots of any kind for any one, and maybe if I really worked my butt off I could do all ten. I quickly realized this was not nearly crazy enough when I did 12 within a few months into the year. 

Everything shifted for me in April and I thought I just might be good at this and this just may be a life-changing opportunity I was chasing. Up until this point I was terrified of weddings, too much pressure, too much importance to get it right, but something kept calling me to it (it was definitely my deep deep love of all things weddings, but I didn’t really recognize that yet). Once I photographed my first wedding as a second, I fell in love, and photographed my first solo wedding in September. Over the course of the year I ended up photographing 10 weddings, and loved every single minute of it.

I was too scared at the time to set a wedding goal for myself that I may fail, so instead, I went full speed ahead at the only goal I was struggling to reach. 

INSTAGRAM

It felt like the depths of the ocean for me to reach 100 followers on Instagram, but I knew passing a threshold and making connections was important for my business. It was getting to the end of the year and I was coming to terms with not reaching this goal and started telling myself, “it doesn’t really matter anyway…” but I wasn’t satisfied with that answer. I started connecting with peers, took advice from them on personal connection and consistency and not only reached my goal but somehow along the way made some friends out of my colleagues and peers in the industry. 

In early November I re-launched my entire brand changing the name from MA Photography to Maggie Ann Photography and shifted my focus to weddings. Rachael from OutsourcedCo designed some gorgeous graphics, and along with them this new website was launched, making way for this new blog.

When I was thinking about writing this in early November I started to sit down and write out my goals for 2022. Here we are in January and I have already reached one of them. When people ask me “how’s that photography business going?” I used to say, “it is absolutely insane, I have no idea how to describe it to you.” But now, it is not insane, it is me and my determination and grit to make my dreams a reality. 

So now that I am here writing out these goals for real – putting them out into the digital world – I asked myself to not just take the business into account, but take myself into account. 

My goals for 2022:

Personal:

• Take time to slow down when photographing a wedding and recognize how lucky I am to be there
• Save at least one weekend every month for self-reflection and for spending time with my fiance, Scott; and our dog, Pepper. 
• Learn how to say “no” when an opportunity does not serve me

Professional:

• 20 weddings
• 10 other sessions (couples’, maternity, engagement, etc.)
• 1 blog post per month on topics/photoshoots/weddings that fill my cup
• Learn those dang reels that the kids are doing these days and post one of those a month

I look forward to seeing you back here a year from now to reflect on what has changed and how we’ve grown. 

Thank you all again for one of the most fulfilling years of my life, I am forever grateful.