Entrepreneurship runs in my veins, which is why I’m so passionate about sharing my knowledge and helping other business owners grow in their business! In this very first episode of Quianna Marie Weekly, I’m sharing how I got started in photography, the steps I took to get where I am, and how I developed confidence as an entrepreneur! I hope you’ll join me in this journey, and share your own experiences with me as well!

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Review the Transcript:

Welcome to Quianna Marie weekly a podcast for creatives who love to celebrate wins, big or small. By dancing in the kitchen photographers who are excited to serve their clients and friends who are ready to chase really, really big dreams. You can find all the resources mentioned in this episode, quiannamarie.com/podcast. Join me as I share weekly motivation and chat about growing themes, finding genuine connection and celebrating your wins through the lens of a photographer at heart. Come join me for a dance party.

Ready? Let’s go. The things we’re passionate about are not random. They are your calling. This is a quote by Fabian Fredrickson. And that is one thing I’m really excited about doing is picking off each podcast each week with a fun quote, affirmation, or just kind of a mantra for the week that we can stick to. I’m so happy you’re here. As we start diving into business tips and marketing ideas and strategies and sharing adventures and interviewing the most influential people in my life. I can’t wait to get this party started. I wanted to really dive back and dig deep into where my story began, and hope that we can kind of create some connection here and understand that the passions that we have, and the hopes and dreams that we have start somewhere, right. And so maybe your story is different than mine, which I hope it is, and I can’t wait to learn about it. But I wanted to share exactly where it all began. And all of the steps that it took for me to feel the confidence I have as a photographer and as a small business owner. And believe it or not, it all started at home, which is of course that is something that we can all relate to. But I wanted to share with you exactly how it all started. With a camera in my hand at the age of only two, maybe two and a half years old. I have a very specific image of myself holding a camera. It’s one of my aunt’s my Auntie’s Cindy’s camera. It’s a old film camera. And that is honestly when my passion for photography began. I just was so inquisitive. And I was super curious about the camera. And since then, my aunt has played a significant role in just my obsession with photography and wanting to be just a part of everything, creating memories. And that’s pretty much when it started. As I grew older, and I started hanging out with my brother, so like, Okay, let me give you a let me give you a backstory on where we grew up real quick. We grew up on 24 acres in the backside of the Santa Cruz Mountains. And growing up, we didn’t have power, we literally lived off of a generator. And we spent a lot of time outside, I was definitely a little tomboy. We spent our times making jumps for our bicycles and building treehouses, we raised chickens. And we just spent a lot of time outside entertaining ourselves. And it was with the cameras that my aunt gifted me for my birthday is in for holidays and special events, whether it was a film camera, a camcorder or anything like that, I always had some type of camera in my hand. So as the older sister, my brother was kind of like the little evil Knievel, in our family and in her neighborhood. And so he was always doing these crazy jumps and kind of being a little Daredevil with some type of motor underneath him. And so I’d follow him around and take photos.

Well, once he started racing, and he actually would, we would go to the racetrack, he was a flat track racer, he would spend a lot of our weekends at the track. And of course, I’d bring my camera in tow and I always had it with me, I would have photographed the event. So this is what I really wanted to to explain and kind of share where this spark for photography and connection really came into play. So while we were at the races, and we’d be all over the Northern California, out in the middle of nowhere, and you know, like I would have to attend I couldn’t just pop in and see him like we were gone for the weekend. And when we were there, I noticed Okay, so let me explain the track really quickly to give you a visual. So there’s there’s the pits and there’s technically two different types of the pits. There’s the center of imagine like the donut hole of the racetrack that’s in the center of the pit. And then there’s the pits, which is also like another version of that, which is where the trailers are the bikes are and all these dirt bikes are with the dads and the families. And so that’s where all the racers kind of hanging out while they’re waiting for their heats or they’re waiting for their turn to race. Now I could have access to the center pit, which is where they’re after all the photographers where they had to have They’re high visual vest on and they could be in the middle of the pits. Now, of course, that’s where all the photographers want to be. That’s where the action is. That’s where things are taking off. And that’s just where you get those really cool slide out, like burnout pictures right on the racetrack, I noticed that there was so much more action going on in the pits where the families were hanging out, or the guys were kicking tires, they were trading insider tips and strategy about the weather it was typically it was dirt that they were racing on, sometimes it was cement, but they weren’t going over, just strategizing and hanging out barbecuing. And I’m not sure if you’ve been around this type of this group or this like commodity of racetrack, guys, but I will tell you that they may be a little bit intimidating, but they are the biggest teddy bears and the most kindest guys ever, they literally will do anything.

And that was an experience that I had growing up with my brother, that I really, really, really admired is that they all look out for each other. And if someone needed a tire, if someone needed some type of tool, they were always there to help each other. And I love that especially when we’re traveling often in spending so many weekends with these families, we really quickly grew a bond. And that is what I was drawn to. So I would take my camera out and I would photograph families I would photograph the grandpa’s bending over and kind of peeling the tires making sure they’re ready for the race i’d photograph guys barbecuing having a good time, some of the racers I get, you know their backs looking at the race and you could see the race track behind them. And I just really valued the people that were really enjoying the race and that’s where I spent my time so just to kind of give you a backstory to on the entrepreneur in me at such a young age, I would take these photographs and at the time it was long so CVS before it was CVS was long and I would go back and I would do the one hour photo and then in front of our truck I would have like a table out with all the photos and I would literally sell them for $1.04 by six prints and I easily would be making a couple $100 every weekend selling these prints and it was just so awesome because like I said yes it was awesome getting those high action racetrack images then but the real magic was in my heart was the the connection and the behind the scenes moments that were going on outside of the track things that only happened and you only could get a glimpse of as if you were a part of that flat track family. Right and so that’s pretty much where it all began.

I had that hustler heart in me and it wasn’t so much about the money I just liked it because I can go get my nachos at the snack shack or I can get a T shirt from the little fan station which was awesome but I just love that connection with the racers and with the families and that’s pretty much honestly where it began I began my love of photography then I started photographing everything I’d photograph family events birthday parties holidays every one of my family members could guarantee they would bet but I would give them picture frames with with fun photos for birthdays and for Christmas Of course and that’s pretty much how it kind of rolled into this passion that quickly turned into a hobby and from there my I booked my very very first wedding my brother was a force when my referrals Mike is literally my biggest fan and one of his buddies that he actually had met growing up in our in our neighborhood and way way South San Jose in Alma den, and he told his buddy, he’s like, hey, just trust me, like, you know, he was he was one of the first in our group to get married. He’s a little bit older than us and my brother was like, Just trust me, Keanu is going to be great and I had never shot a wedding before I could not even show them images as a reference. And they were like, okay, okay, like I trust you. And they totally trust Mike and that was my very, very first wedding on my own.

I have had experiences second shooting weddings before and I cannot wait to introduce you to my cousin who allowed me to work my very first wedding but I just wanted to share that that’s kind of how this whole thing started. I have been passionate about people over profits and passionate over connection over just business I guess like there’s no way to describe it. Like I took this passion that I had and this feeling and I’m definitely just using my camera as a tool. Because if you pull away the computer and the camera and all the technology that makes it happen. I mean the those are all important, don’t get me wrong and I do I do love a little bit of gear. But I’m not a gearhead, I always, always, always put people first. And I want to encourage you that if you have a passion, or if you find something that is a hobby that you love doing, I challenge you to just do it. Just simply show up, make it a part of your routine, if it’s not something that you can dive headfirst in, because trust me, I get it, I understand that we have bills, and we have responsibilities. And a lot of us listening to have families that it’s just impossible to just go off in left field and just start pursuing a brand new dream. I get it. But please, please understand that it just takes time and it takes compounded efforts day after day to help turn this dream into your reality. So going back to the mantra and the quote today, the things you are passionate about are not random, they are your calling.

So please, please take this opportunity to just kind of remind yourself that you got it, you have everything in your arsenal, I call it your tool belt, you have everything it takes to be successful. And follow your heart, follow your arrow. Trust me, sometimes it doesn’t make sense. Sometimes you’re busy often one thing that you kind of like to do, and then it’ll lead you to making a connection or building a friendship with someone else. But this is really where it all begins. And I cannot wait to see you succeed and to truly follow your heart because I feel that if each of us can step into our purpose, if each of us can answer the callings that we have in our heart, this world would be a completely different place. So I want to leave you with that quote today. Thank you so much for jumping on and just learning a little bit about me and where it all began. I can’t wait to chat soon. That’s a wrap on another episode of Quianna Marie weekly. Thank you so much for your listenership and support. You can find the resources and Show Notes for this episode and more at Kiana murray.com slash podcast. I’d be honored and so grateful if you showed your support by leaving a review and writing on your favorite podcast app. Until next time, keep on dancing.