A little back story…
Hello world!
I’m Heidi Marshall - typically the lady behind the camera around here 😉📷 It’s been quite the winding road to get where I am, so I figured I’d share parts of my story!
Growing up, becoming a photographer was never something I aspired to do. I always knew I wanted to be a mom… from as far back as I can remember I’ve ALWAYS loved babies… So that one has clearly made sense & it’s still my favorite title ❤️ MOM. My boys mean everything to me.
I started playing piano when I was 5, which eventually seemed like a viable career option until I majored in piano my first semester of college. I was pretty dang good, but 5 hours a day of practicing took the passion out. I was also a dancer (my favorite was tap, then dance team in high school) but to be honest - my awkward, skinny body just didn’t move like the girls who went pro with it.
So then I explored the world of business, sociology & psychology, but I needed a more creative outlet - which brought me to Architectural Interior Design! I had taken an architecture class in high school, so I gave it a whirl! Loved it. It was a perfect combo of technical + creative/artistic. Until I started to realize how many limitations there were in the “real world” with building codes and gravity and load-bearing walls, blah blah blah. The best designs I created were apparently not feasible in real life, but I still loved it. I finished school and got an internship at an architecture firm. My job was to update the AutoCAD files from the blueprint markups, and sometimes choose tile or grout colors. It was thrilling. And I enjoyed visiting job sites I had worked on the plans for, to see it all come together.
Somewhere along that road I met a guy who seemed to fit all of my qualifications for a husband & father of my children! So I got married. Also during this time, my internship ended & I got a job as office manager of a welding supply company. Right?! I got to sit at a desk all day answering phones, taking orders for various types of wire and welding equipment, and calling customers. I actually really loved that job, the people I worked with, and the friends I made. When I ended up on bed rest with my first son, I had no idea I would be leaving the world of set schedules and paychecks forever.
Remember I said I had always wanted to be a mom? Yep. That became my world. So to fill my “individual identity” bucket and contribute financially, I leaned back into my architecture background and landed my very first work-from-home job at a local architecture firm, where I’d go into the office once or twice a week to pick up blueprints to update AutoCAD files on my home computer. Dude, this was back in like 2001 when technology was astounding. Blazing fast. I saved the files onto FLOPPY DISCS to take back to the office when I picked up more blueprints. It was a pretty sweet gig until my son became WAY more active & I struggled to meet deadlines. I was only 22 at this point, and fairly clueless about a lot of things. If only I could teach her what I know now!
Fast forward through my attempt at SEVERAL mlm sales gigs (Pampered Chef & Mary Kay were my favs), my first official business running a membership site for mom’s who wanted to learn how to make money selling boutique children’s clothing on eBay, several years of creating Reborn Dolls (look it up), which ultimately brought me to photography! I know, you’ve been wondering when I’d get to this part. I was selling the dolls on eBay, but my photos sucked. I knew my gorgeous dolls had the potential to sell for more if I could just figure out how to take better pictures! So I dove into watching tutorials where I could find them, reading books, and practicing. Back in the mid 2000’s there wasn’t nearly as much info available as there is now! Practicing my new photography skills with my dolls and my real life babies, led to friends asking me to practice with their families and it snowballed from there! My first practice family session was in 2006 & I was so proud of myself. I’ll have to do a blog post dedicated to my favorite images back then… so cringy looking back at them now.
A local photographer & friend of mine showed me the ropes of wedding photography, then I felt ready to start my own photography business at the beginning of 2009! I was charging people money to do something I had absolutely fallen in love with. Life was pretty fantastic. I was married to a man I figured I’d spend the rest of my life with, we had 3 amazing little boys, an old farmhouse on 7 acres we were fixing up into our dream home, and I had finally found my passion in photography. That was 15 years ago when I was blissfully unaware of what was around the next corner. The following month after registering my new business, I found out I was pregnant with boy #4! This was the highlight of my year… It’s all a blur after that for a while… When it rains it pours. Within a couple of years I found myself divorced & raising those 4 boys on my own. I attempted a 2nd marriage that ended badly fairly quickly, followed by a series of even shorter unhealthy/toxic relationships. Turns out I just didn’t believe in myself enough to know how I deserved to be treated or how much I was worth.
People ask me how I’ve done it & I can honestly say I don’t know. I was just in survival mode for way too long. Life is about choices and hoping you make the right combination of them. I don’t have any regrets… I truly love my life now & the amazing humans my boys have all become. All of the challenges I have faced (and lots of therapy!), have allowed me to be who I am today. I have learned the value of self love, self compassion, boundaries, faith, trust, hard work and dedication, and never giving up. I’ve developed a deeper level of confidence and resilience. I have so much compassion for others, yet I pay attention to my energy & guard it closely. I feel other people’s pain. Deeply. And I find SO MUCH JOY in helping others see their own value in this world of unrealistic expectations. My 45 years on this planet has been a wild ride so far & I can’t wait to see what I can do with the next 45.