You know that amazing moment when you realize your passion? Now do you remember what follows? Finding yourself in those not-so-amazing moments afterwards when you come up with a thousand reasons why your passion could never be your living? The fierce photographer behind Ebby L. Photography waded through all those emotions before even graduating college.

Featured Showiteer Ebby Lowry discovered her calling early on in life. “I found my passion for photography kind of by accident when I became frustrated by poor quality sports photos in the yearbook of my high school. My senior year I received a camera for Christmas and I haven't put it down since.” Despite this early and instant love of photography, she still found that she had to make changes to her life course to accommodate this new passion, to turn it from a hobby to a profession.

“I majored in tourism management, a topic that wasn't related to photography at all. My dream of becoming a full time photographer didn't really become real to me until my junior year of college. I was attending school full time, photographing 30+ sessions, and photographing 4 weddings all within September and October. I was completely overwhelmed trying to balance it all and at my breaking point I realized when I graduated I wouldn't have to. From that point on, I knew that photography would be my main focus and started really pushing for that. By the time I graduated, I had 15 weddings booked that wedding season and dove headfirst into my full time photography career.”

Through her time at university, Ebby knew education was important. Finding a mentor she could learn under became a priority. Luckily, Ebby found the perfect person to learn the ropes from.

“When beginning my career in photography, I second shot under Kara Kamienski Photography. Kara is a rockstar when it comes to her people skills and instruction on a wedding day. I learned that what you're saying and how you're making your clients feel during a shoot drastically affects the experience they have as well as the images you produce. Kara helped me to have the confidence to instruct and be vocal when taking pictures. She made me feel like I could pursue my dream and create the photography business that I desired.“

Thanks to the perfect tutelage, an early discovery of photography, and desire to make her dreams a reality, Ebby L. Photography is now in her 6th wedding season. She has learned a lot since first picking up a camera her senior year. Her most valuable lesson though, surprisingly, is not exclusive to her craft.

“If I could give one piece of advice to a new photographer, it would be that people skills and relationships go a long way. I can't tell you how many times I have been photographing a wedding and before anyone sees the photos they tell me what a wonderful job I did and how great it's been working with me. This goes to show that although my work and the photographs I produce are vital to my business, how I interact and work with my clients is equally as important.“

From the ability to connect to her clients to the success that comes from pursuing her passion, Ebby Lowry is one small business owner that will go far. Follow Ebby as she chases down her dreams to live a life of passion through her blog, Instagram, and Facebook.

Cassandra Campbell

Casandra is a born and bred East Coaster who finds herself braving the heat of the Valley of the Sun with her husband and three cute kids all for the love of Showit.