GUYS ! It happened ! I'm a staff photographer !
This morning when I checked SG, I left a comment on my wifey @lucerne's last blog and noticed that my comment was yellow so I went straight to my profile to see that I went from "Member since 2010" to "Photographer since 2010", I couldn't believe it ! This is a dream come true. And a 2016 goal I can check off of my bucket list :D
I remember joining the site back in 2010 to see more from a certain photographer (I could only see previews on Flickr) and what an adventure it's been ! I was studying cinema at uni back then and doing a bit of photography. I bought my first reflex camera and sold it to buy a better one that I could record videos with but only used it to take photos. That's when I realized that I was more interested in photography than cinema haha :)
Then I practiced, shooting mostly bands (most of my friends are musicians) and I shot my first set for the site, @linna's one !
Then I shot a set for @laurah who's no longer on the site and it got bought in 4 days ! For the record, we sho the set at a french actor's house (Jean Paul Rouve if you guys know him), a friend of hers ! The house is in Montmartre and is amaziiing and he even came home later ! I was flabbergasted, she didn't tell me it was a celebrity's house ! HOLY SHIT ! Hahaha :)
Then I became penpals with my dear @fische and she invited me to the 2nd SGUK Shootfest that she was organizing, I couldn't helieve it ! What an amazing opportunity ! I met a lot of super cool people there, like @snowy who hosted me (she's one of the best people EVER, I love her to the moon and back) can't even tag them all ! I made friends for life and shot a shitload of sets. My bag got stolen on my last night in London with all my gear in it and I lost 7 sets out of 10. I was devastated because we created true gems that you guys will never get to see :(
Anyway, my love @pixel created a crowdfunding for me and I managed to buy a new camera in only a couple of weeks ! I'll be thankful for life to her and my SG family for helping me out. How amazing is that, seriously ?
I shot a lot of sets, met a lot of people, got to travel to Berlin to meet @asio and @cane whom I love very dearly, went back to London for another little shootfest where I met more people like my wifey @lucerne and @holley. I also got to meet @del who's as awesome as his photography work btw. Seriously, my SG London family is amazing, SMUTGANG FOR LYF you guys !
The set I shot for Lucerne was my 3rd one bought <3
I was shooting more and more, getting more girls interested in my work and developping my social medias network <3
Then last summer, @core contacted me to shoot a set and the timing was perfect as I was gonna go to London again with my boyfriend, this time ! It was his first time assisting to one of my shoots and it was super nice ! He helped with the reflector and gave us super useful advice :) It's nice to have a boy's point of view hehe ! Aaaaand, Core set got bought a couple of weeks ago !
Having a girl turn pink thanks to your set is the best feeling in the world and I'm lucky enough that it happened 3 times to me !
Then I shot @tchip in Toulouse, where I lived for a year before moving to Orléans with my bf and DAMN what a good idea it was ! It became my 5th bought set and the fastest one yet, only 18h !
(Coming soon to a FP near you hehe)
And that's it, I became staff today ! I still can't believe it. And I don't want to give an Oscars speech but still, I want to thank every girl that believed enough in me to work with me, every friend that supported me and genuinely thought I could make it, @rambo for her patience and awesome constructive criticism, and, of course, @sean and @missy for trusting me with this ! I promise I won't disappoint you guys, here's to many more sets, new friends, travels, opportunities, happy models and years in the SG family !
It seriously brought so much to me, I found my passion and career goal and can't wait to see what life comes up with for me ! I love you all !