The Story to Full Time: The Beginning

I’m sharing how it all started, and how it got me to where I am today.

Well there we have it. I’m a full-time photographer! And I want to share with you all my story of going full time. It has been a really wild journey to get to this point. It’s been filled with a lot of prayer and a lot of ups and downs, but how thankful am I for this answered prayer.

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be letting you all in on more of the details to my story and a lot that I kept behind the scenes. There is so much more that went into this than what you see on my social media so I’m excited to share my story with you guys as a way to encourage those of you who are grinding it out every day working towards a dream you have, or for those of you who feel stuck and maybe haven’t figured out what you want to do with your life. I feel like no matter where you are in your journey or place in your life, you’ll be able to recognize parts of yourself in my story.

It’s hard to have a starting point to this story. Where I’m at now, it’s easy to look back and see that it was all working together to get to this point. Even from my traveling days in my younger years when friends would get annoyed at how often I stopped to take photos of seemingly simple things, to exploring different career paths once my UNCW advisor told me it was time to pick a major, to the handful of jobs I had to make ends meet once I graduated…they all were leading me to where I am now. But for the sake of the story, we are going to start circa 2016 when my frustrated, discontent, and unfulfilled self was at an all-time high.

“It’s easy to look back and see that it was all working together to get to this point.”

I was stuck in a job I was miserable in. Ironically, I was good at it. In fact, I actually had fun being good at it for a while (who doesn’t like being good at something?) But the demands of the job finally caught up to me and I realized every morning when I stared in the mirror, I was exhausted, depleted, and overworked by something that I knew wasn’t for me. I was in it for the money alone, which I needed desperately. (hello, student loan debt) I felt stuck. And then I resented feeling stuck. And then I felt guilty for resenting feeling stuck (results of an over-thinker). I knew long-term there was no way I could keep doing this job and live out my purpose. And when it came down to it, living out my purpose is something I always intended to do. The question was- what did living out my purpose look like?

On my quiet weekends, typically spent journaling outside and pleading with God to open doors to new possibilities, this dream of mine began to surface. What would living a fulfilled life look like? What would it look like to actually pursue a life that makes me excited to wake up in the morning? As I’m constantly reminded, God answered my prayers. He slowly but surely opened my mind to new possibilities, new dreams, and the resources to make it happen.

I decided I wanted to create a life that didn’t just bring me joy, but could bring joy to other people too. A life where my main mission is to spread God’s light to others through my gift of storytelling. Whether that be through taking pictures or writing words, I wanted to tell stories, encourage others, and spread love.

“I decided I wanted to create a life that didn’t just bring me joy, but could bring joy to other people too.”

Fast-forward to Christmas of that year. My husband (then boyfriend) and I were driving up to my hometown, Richmond VA, for my family’s Christmas. During the drive, I was telling him all about this dream of mine. Little did I know he had a camera already wrapped for me in the backseat. That was one awesome surprise.

From then on out, he encouraged me to pick up that camera. I used what was in my savings to invest in educational courses so I could really learn the ins and outs on using the camera, learning lighting, shooting, editing, and even the business side of things. 2017 was dedicated to learning all that I could learn, and giving away A LOT of free shoots! and in September of that year, I was ready to really put myself out there. I launched Becca Rizzo Photography.

Next week I’ll disclose all the good, the bad, and the hard times that followed in The Story to Full Time: The Hustle.

Part I: The Beginning
Part II: The Hustle
Part III: The Patient Pursuit
Part IV: Making It Happen