The first official Found Within Photography image

It was January 1, 2013 when I draped a sheet over a large mirror, grabbed a special teddy bear and a few other props, then brought my five month old and 2 year old daughters into the room to snap a few photos. I was a stay at home mother living in McArthur, Ohio at the time. It was during this ‘session’ that I realized I had a talent for photography. Many other images were taken. But this one was ‘the one’. The session lasted long enough that my youngest daughter fell asleep while I was capturing images of her older sister. I took the opportunity to get some of those ‘napping’ poses before she was bright-eyed and ready for this perfect pose.

January 1, 2013

The first Found Within Photography image.

I had no idea how far I would go with my photography at the time. All I knew is that I took this image and I felt like I was an Olan-Mills photographer (but with an obviously crappier quality camera - but I didn’t know it at the time). If you’ve never heard of Olan Mills Portrait Studio, they were a photography studio based in Chattanooga, Tennessee who captured images of my family when I was an infant. After looking up some details, it seems as though the studio was purchased by Lifetouch in the 2000’s. That’s neat information to know.

As I grow as a photographer, I look back on this image as inspiration. To remind myself that images like this came into existence because of me like many others since January 1, 2013.