The Story of Starting My Blog (and Accidentally Starting Over)

It started with a lie I told myself 

“This blog would just be another school assignment.”

That’s my hook. I hope you like it.

No, but honestly.. It is the story I clung to so I wouldn’t have to care too much. I told myself I’d write something quick, check the box, and move on with my life so I could graduate. And, to be fair, I did procrastinate this class to the absolute very last minute. (I am so sorry, Diego. Hopefully, I get so famous from this blog that I can give you a more meaningful shout-out later.)

Somewhere between the late-night typing and the lo-fi beat study sounds, where the world finally stopped spinning, something shifted in my brain. The blog stopped feeling like homework and more like therapy. I stepped into a new version of myself when I was allowed to talk about myself. And OH MAN do I like talking about myself? 

I’ve been building my brand so quietly behind the scenes. This class really helped it come to light. 

I chose my brand positioning because photography is the only thing paying my bills right now. Literal rent money, literal groceries, literal real-life adulthood. Let’s hope the famous blog money will come into play soon. 

The photography-blog space is so loud and so crowded. Everyone is a photographer with a dream. Everyone is posting the same “10 tips for beginners.” But what photographers aren’t getting is marketing. And hey… thats what im learning right freaking now. The kind I’ve been desperately trying to figure out myself.

So, instead of pretending to be another photography instructor, I leaned into what actually mattered:

How to make this dream sustainable.

The biggest surprise?

I discovered content creation is really about emotion. Like at least 60% of it. (shout out to my favorite 60:40 rule)

Yes. keywords matter. Sure, SEO is queen. But the moment I realized brands stay in people’s heads because of feelings, not formulas, was kind of the inciting incident. 

Through all this education, I learned something about myself. 

I am so unserious. 

Unhinged. Overly honest. I wanted you to feel like you’re reading a text from a friend who should absolutely not be trusted with a microphone. Because that is exactly who I am. The awkward loud one.  I want you to feel like I am the big sister in the photography and marketing world. Someone who is still figuring things out but refuses to gatekeep the process for her little siblings. 

The moment everything changed for me in my photography didn’t actually happen behind the Canvas screen.

It happened while working a 9–5 job for two weeks… clocking in, clocking out, then running to photography gigs at night. My feet hurt. My brain hurt.  However, my heart lit up the second I picked up a camera. That was the contrast. The life I was living vs. the life I actually wanted.

So yes… This blog will definitely continue long after the class ends. Probably messier. Probably more dramatic. It is going on shaykphotography.com. It’s becoming part of my brand. And maybe even part of my therapy journey. 

Shay K Photography is changing. I feel it. So bad. I’m terrified but so excited… Which usually means I’m doing something right. If you want to follow along, learn with me, or just read my chaotic thoughts as I build this thing from the ground up… come back. There’s more to come.

xoxo,

AI Use Note

I used ChatGPT to help brainstorm structure and enhance emotional tone. I rewrote and personalized all content to reflect my own voice, experiences, and writing style.