Hello friends!
I am so glad you dropped by! I am excited to be able to roll out our new blog! On our blog, you will get to hear updates about all that is going on with Courtney Leach Photography, hear our couples’ love stories, hear about all the behind the scenes from weddings and portrait sessions and learn more about me! My hope is that you join our little CLP community/ family!
In my first post, I wanted to take time for you to get to know me a little more! I know you can hop over to the about me page and learn some things, but today I wanted you to be able to hear my story!
I grew up in Chesapeake, VA. Chesapeake is a city close to the city of Virginia Beach, so I grew up very close to the beach. I had a great childhood full of wonderful memories and of course some that I wish I could forget, mostly due to all the embarrassing things I would do as a child! One of the memories I have is going on vacation to the Smokey Mountains in North Carolina! We vacationed to the same little town Maggie Valley for as long as I can remember. For many years, my dad would get me one of those little disposable cameras, you know the ones that they would sell in the check out aisles of the grocery store. During our vacation, I had a camera to be able to capture all the memories being made on our trip.
I remember getting so excited we he would come home with the developed pictures! Yes, this was back in the film days! I would spend hours looking at them and remembering all the memories from our trip. This just seemed like a childhood hobby to me, but now looking back I see it as building blocks laying the foundation to Courtney Leach Photography! It has always been amazing to me to look back on my life and see the little things God has used to shape my future in His plan for my life!
Once the days of film were coming to and end and digital cameras rolled out, I remember asking for one for Christmas multiple years. Finally one Christmas I was gifted a little point shoot digital camera for Christmas. I absolutely LOVED that camera! I think I had it with me all the time! I enjoyed taking pictures of anything and everything, and I really do mean anything! Looking back now I would probably be embarrassed by all the random pictures I took, but once again they were building blocks!
The older I got the less I started thinking about taking pictures and moved on to different hobbies such as cheerleading, music, and theater. As I went through high school I had always thought my career would be in music as a music teacher. I never even had the thought that I could possibly be a photographer. I always thought of photographers as a whole new level of artist ability, a level that I could never achieve. I went off to college and ended up switching my major to Early Childhood Education and became a teacher.
I spent two years teaching kindergarten back in VA until I was married in June of 2017 and moved here to Greenville, SC. My wedding was the turning point in what inspired me to pursue this little passion that I had placed on the back burner. I loved my wedding photos that my friend Ashley from Third Floor North Photography had taken so much. She captured the day effortlessly and in the end we were left with gorgeous pictures that far exceeded my expectations. As I sat that summer designing an album with all my pictures, I remember thinking. I wish I could learn to take pictures like this. As fast as that thought came it quickly left, like I mentioned before photographers were a whole new level of artistic ability that I could never achieve.
Months later those thoughts kept creeping in. Finally for my birthday I was gifted a dslr camera and a lens. I was so excited to learn! I took a basic class to learn basic ways to operate the camera and would go out with my husband to practice. Even though, I seemed to pick up the basics pretty quickly I did not think this could move past a hobby into a career until I heard the story of Amy and Jordan Demos.
Amy and Jordan really inspired me that I could make this into a career just like they did. I related so well to their story! They were elementary teachers who grew their passion of photography into their dream career! I enrolled into their class that summer and the result was Courtney Leach Photography!
Fast forward to now and I have been honored to serve couples and families through my photography business, and it has turned into another very rewarding career. I love to see the joy on my couples faces when they see their wedding albums. I love to hear the grooms say “that wasn’t that bad or that was fun” after an engagement session. I love photographing new arrivals of new family members, and capturing them as they grow. I am so blessed that God has given me a business and a ministry through CLP, and I owe it all to Him and thank Him for the building blocks He has given me all through out the years that have built this business!
I am so thankful for you to join our family and to follow along with us as we serve many beautiful couples and families, and I want to leave you with one final encouragement. It is also the biggest lesson I have learned through this, with God all things are possible. It sounds cliche, but it is the truth! I hope my story can inspire someone whether an aspiring photographer or even someone just wanting to break out of their comfort zone and take the plunge into something new! Know that you have a cheerleader and supporter in me!
Love,
Courtney Leach
