Meet This Week's Judge: Cecily Cook!

This week's judge is the talented Cecily Cook of Chaos & Bliss Photography! Read what inspires her here!

     1. Tell us about yourself...

       It was when I was about 18 years old that I discovered that I could buy black and white film and  organized a mini photo shoot in my back yard with my little sister and her friends. Honestly, the pictures were SO bad (I thought the pictures were so edgy and cool though at the time. Mostly because they were in black and white), but it put a love of photography firmly in place in my heart. It wasn’t until years later (about 15 years, in fact) that I got my first DSLR, but that shoot was a beginning for me. Now, I’m a wife and mom of three kids (ages 16, 12 and 7), and I still stage mini shoots in my back yard. I am a light chaser and light addict. I love it most when I am able to tell a story with my photography. 

     2.  What ignited your passion for photography, what fuels it now?

  Like I said, I love it most when a story happens through my lens. By nature I am a story teller, and I think all those years ago, when I realized I could do that not only with words but with a camera, I was hooked. I love my client sessions that kind of evolve into a story in frames and capture a family or a bride and groom in a way that tells the world and tells history, “THIS is us. This is who we are, right now.” That fueled me all those years ago, and it fuels me now.

     3.  What's in your camera bag right now, what do use the most? the least?

  I’m still really low frills. I have a Canon Mark II and a back up body, a 50 mm 1.4 (I’m waiting for my 85 mm to come!!) and a few other lenses that I rarely use anymore. When I shoot weddings I rent a 70-200 2.8, but that’s about it.

     4.   What’s your dream project or shoot?

  My dream project is really what I already do. Document life. If I am being totally honest, a dream project would include a LOT more pictures of my oldest son and husband (teenage boys can be tricky little stinkers to pin down for pictures!), but I feel very fortunate to be doing what I love to do with my family: telling stories with them. On the business side of things, it’s the same with clients. I feel very blessed to be able to help families and couples save memories and tell stories through pictures.  

     5.       What is the biggest challenge you face as a photographer?

  Honestly? Confidence and the business side of things. There are days when I feel like I’ve found the perfect light, have the perfect subject and capture a perfect moment.  Those days, I am on top of the confidence mountain, so to speak. And then there are days when I feel like I just started this whole journey and I’m at the bottom. I’ve noticed that those moments happen when I am busy comparing myself and my work to other people. That whole “comparison is the thief of joy” stuff is a very real thing.

And as for business, well, I stink at that all around.

6.  If you had $500 to spend on photography...

How should you spend it?

On my website and promotion. A business workshop, maybe.

How do you wish you could spend it?
Honestly, I’d want to save it to put toward something bigger.

How would you really spend it?
I’d save it to put toward more glass.

7.Is there any one thing you wish someone had told you at the very beginning of your photography journey?

Learn to find the light. There is this pocket of light in my backyard that is a slice of magic. When I realized we had lived here for a few years before I even knew it was there, I was kind of shocked, but it was because I didn’t know how to look for light. A whole new world lit up for me when I figured that out, and now I chase it. Once I figured that out, suddenly the most everyday things turned into magic moments.  

Thank you, Cecily, for joining us this week!