The Middle Years with Shalonda Chaddock

April 19, 2021

The Middle Years with Shalonda Chaddock
https://learn.theunraveledacademy.com/course?courseid=shalondachaddock
Hey ya’ll! I am Shalonda, the face behind the chubby cheek photography camera. Since I believe honesty is the best policy I am going to share a teeny tiny little secret with you…Growing up I always considered myself to be creative but I was terrified of cameras!
For as long as I can remember the need to create was always a part of my life. Early on I believed I would design wedding dresses someday, (but apparently nobody told my 7 year old self that I wasn’t really that great at sketching dresses). I had the ideas but the lack of drawing skills ended that dream real quick. I kept the pencil and transitioned to writing as the teen angst took over. Then I eventually became quite the puffy lettering artist, designing football posters as a high school cheerleader. Even though I graduated from college with the most non-creative degree on the planet, (an engineering degree, yep go ahead and say it, nerd alert!), I continued using my creativity in my corporate America jobs, but what I didn’t do was touch a camera. Back in the “old days” before cell phones people carried point and shoot cameras around and would occasionally ask you to take their picture at random theme parks or for pretty sunsets. I would legit toss that thing back to them as if it were a hot potato and say, “Nope I’ll probably cut your head off or break this thing.” or, “Sorry I am not good at taking pictures.” I loved every medium of creating but never considered a camera an option for myself.

But life happened and this is probably where my path looks a lot like yours. I had my first daughter. I watched every waking moment of her life and I realized time was my kryptonite and that with every passing minute; our moments were passing us by. I had a good ole canon xTi in my hands within days and immersed myself into learning how to save those moments.

The rest is history but a history that will always be here for my future generations to see.

You see one little leap of faith, simply picking up an entry-level camera 13 years ago changed the entire trajectory of my life. We have all been there!

We all became photographers for different reasons. We needed the money or a creative outlet. We needed something to call our own or wanted to show our children the success of building a business from nothing and so on ….

But we also all became photographers for the SAME reason… at some point every single one of us realized the value of freezing a moment. Whether that realization came to you from the loss of a loved one or the birth of a child, we all truly understand that an image, one simple click turns a moment in time into a story for the future.

I tell you this because in order to work through this course I need you to bring two things to the table 1. That feeling and excitement that you had at the very beginning, when you wanted to learn anything and everything you could about that camera. 2. That ability to push past what you are afraid of, the permission to make yourself uncomfortable for the greater good of someone else’s story.

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