After graduating with my MFA from University of Chicago in 2009, I was filled with the exciting, spontaneous, (ridiculous?) idea to start an event photography business. I will always remember my husband looking at me confused when I told him the plan.

“But you’ve never taken a picture that wasn’t on auto mode.” he said.

This was true. And yet, my normally cautious personality wouldn’t be deterred. I was certain this was the next step in my professional development. All that was left was to learn how to do it.

Looking back, it would have been smart to use my six years of higher education to take a least one photography class, especially given that I’ve loved the medium all the way down to my bones since childhood. But you can’t rewind time, so I instead furiously taught myself through rigorous, playful, daily practice.

Kimmy Noonen Photography grew and flourished for eight years, as did the photographer behind the lens. I was invited into the most private and sacred moments of strangers’ lives and asked to return over and over again. I was given license to learn from the intimate experiences of people very much unlike me, an opportunity that shaped my mind, soul, and larger body of work.  

The skills I gained in longevity helped me transition into teaching Digital Photography courses at Judson University for two years. I designed my courses around the imperative of frequent, consistent practice. My students grumbled at the mention of their required “Everyday Project,” a behemoth of an assignment that comprised most of their grade. They were required to make one solid photograph every single day and had to account for how they created it.

In an act of solidarity (and to minimize their complaints of injustice) I participated in the project as well. After three months the semester ended and my students were free, but I kept up the daily project. Three years later, my Everyday Project had grown into over a thousand images and a daily ritual that documented my family, city, neighbors, and travels. It was a steadfast creative outlet through many life transitions and its images comprise my body of photographic work.

I closed Kimmy Noonen Photography shortly after my second child was born, to make more space for motherhood and other artistic developments. I feel aware looking back that my impulse to start a business in a new medium was really a divine push toward the fullness of my creative identity. I may have taken the scenic route to becoming a photographer, but I think that’s where all the best images in life are made.