It's about time!

Since I've been doing professional photography for about 6 years, I believe it's about damn time I started a blog!! To be honest, I'm not the best writer, and I'm kind of the worst at social media and posting, but I am going to do my BEST to write on here at least twice a week! At least just to get myself into the swing of things. I suppose I should start this post by introducing myself and letting you know what is to come on this site!

Since I've been doing professional photography for about 6 years, I believe it's about damn time I started a blog!! To be honest, I'm not the best writer, and I'm kind of the worst at social media and posting, but I am going to do my BEST to write on here at least twice a week! At least just to get myself into the swing of things. I suppose I should start this post by introducing myself and letting you know what is to come on this site!

My name is Colleen DeMenna, no middle name sadly. I'm a 24 year old currently living in West Chester, PA at my parents house (AWESOME). I recently graduated from Tyler School of Art at Temple University with a BFA in Graphic & Interactive design. I do work at a design studio called 21xdesign in Broomall, PA with an awesome group of people, well, really, there are three of us. But I love it and I couldn't imagine being anywhere else. However, when I'm not in the studio, I'm at home or running around the Chester County area looking for new places to shoot and new subjects. I got into photography when I was around 13. This was the prime MySpace era and, yes, you guessed it, I was one of the many young teens who jumped on the bandwagon and rode it til it died a slow and painful death. In that time, however, I met a bunch of different photographers whom I've followed ever since then. People like Cale Glendening, Lara Jade, Joey L, and countless others. They showed me different styles of photography and I was seriously hooked. From that point on, all I wanted to do was find people to stand awkwardly in front of my camera so I could figure out what the hell I was doing. And I definitely wasn't the only one. There were HUNDREDS of kids like me who wanted a piece of the photography action. The difference was that I stuck with it. Once I got into high school, I enrolled in any photography class I could get my hands on. My teacher at the time, Joe Arscott (HOLLA JARSCOTT IF YOU EVER READ THIS, YOU WON'T I KNOW), was such a major influence on me. He gave me the photo bug, and it hasn't ever left. I had such a love-affair with film photography, I swear I went through rolls upon rolls a week. Later on in my high school career, after a school change, my artistic horizons broadened when I got into graphic design. I never stopped photographing, but instead used my love of design & photography together. Fast forward a couple of years to now, where I've been photographing weddings, couples, families, bands, people, anything at all for over 10 years. When I say I live and breathe photography, I'm not kidding. This stuff gets me so pumped, I think people think I'm exaggerating. Nothing gets me more excited than the idea of a new and innovative shoot, a new client, a new location, new equipment (I mean, come on photogs, nothing beats that new lens smell). And now finally being graduated, I have more time than ever to expand my horizons & my business!

Wow, that ended up being so much longer than anticipated! But I guess it's for the better, no? SO! Onto the agenda of this blog: As I said before, I plan on posting (hopefully!) twice a week. I have many shoots that I need to blog from the past, plus lots that I've been working on recently! So for the first couple of weeks, you'll probably be seeing a mix of old and new, plus some personal posts thrown in there. I want to share what I've learned over the past 10 years being a photographer, and hopefully teach someone out there in the internet abyss something they didn't know before. I'd like to attempt some lifestyle blogging as well, but let's face it, my room is a disaster, so maybe we shouldn't be taking lifestyle advice from me! Regardless, this blog is going to be POPPIN.

Thanks for following & you'll be hearing from me soon!