Today we’d like to introduce you to Sheri Keene
Hi Sheri , thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
As a child I always had an artsy side, I often suppressed that side because I always grew up thinking I had to do go to college and get a degree to be successful in life. I started down the college route and nothing really stuck. I continued going and would always pray that I would enjoy what I was doing… I took a step back and kept a journal of the things I really enjoyed doing in life to try and lead me to my passion or “purpose”, I feel like we all are after our purpose. I noticed I documented everything, always. I was always the friend that took all the pictures that we would look back at and be so happy we had. It wasn’t until I had my first baby that I realized how much I truly enjoyed taking pictures. I would post pictures of him, I was always doing little shoots with him, documenting all the things and I would always get comments telling me how good the photos were. It didn’t really register at the time and my main focus was providing for him and I didn’t think photography would be that thing. All throughout I continued to document, taking pictures of my family members and their milestones and trying new things. It really took a lot of courage to push myself to take on “clients” a whole 4 years later. I feel like God never stopped pushing me towards photography no matter how much I tried resisting against it. When I officially started my business, one thing lead into the next and I know my clients believed in me more than I believed in myself. I never truly had a plan when I first started, I let it guide me in a sense.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road by any means. I am completely self taught so it has been a lot of trial and error. A lot of days wanting to throw in the towel at the beginning because you don’t know what you don’t know, until you know! Within that first year, I did a lot of comparing myself to others and I learned you cannot compare your first year to someone’s 10th year and we all have completely different journeys. There is room for all of us in this space and once you find your people, it begins to make sense.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I specialize in photography: families, weddings, couples, and seniors.
I am very proud of myself for building my business from the ground up and for being completely being self taught. I believe that photos are one of the most important things that will carry us throughout life, through this job I have captured some of peoples biggest days, last days, first days. This career has become something that is bigger than me and allows me to give back in a way that will forever leave imprints on people. A photograph can be the last thing you have left of somebody and I am so glad I am able to give back in that way.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
I am a photography business owner but I am also a medical assistant. I worked in the clinic throughout the entire Covid 19 crisis and I realized how important human interaction is, some of the people who were being cared for would never make it outside of those hospital walls, compassion went far. Through it all I learned we are truly better together. I did not have my business then but I know it was really hard on business owners and the families who were affected and lost their loved ones.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://sherilashayphoto.com/
- Instagram: @sherilashayphoto
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/48kduEP7HVaH9cjN/?mibextid=LQQJ4d
