Wow! Finally, here I am again. First off I want to thank God for giving me the opportunity to talk to you guys today on March 1, 2018. One of my goals of 2018 was to blog on my website so it's nice I can check that off of my list (Write your goals; Clear Goals = Clear Results). As I write this, I'm sitting comfortably in my computer chair, with one sock off (my hot/cold-at-the-same-time people know what I'm talking about), listening to a 24/7 live Lo-fi Hip-hop Radio station on Youtube. I just finished editing several pictures to upload on social media and I'm currently waiting for my Grandma to call me so I can assist her on moving some furniture. So until then, I'll inform you on what's been going on in the life of AustinAdams Photography.

     To begin, my name is Carlos Austin-Adams. I'm 23 years old and I'm a professional photographer based out of Miami, Florida. I've been doing professional photography for 5 years now but it all started with Video Production/Mass Media when I was in 2nd Grade at Francis S. Tucker Elementary School here in Coconut Grove. I fell in love with being behind the camera and once in a while I would build up the courage to bring the news in front of the whole school. In all honesty, our names rotated and I didn't have a choice but to go in front of the camera, haha but who cares? Facing your fears builds character right? Right. That was going on all the way to the transition of 6th grade were I went to South Miami Middle Community School and was part of the Broadcast Magnet Program. At that stage I was learning how to use iMovie and dabbled with using Final Cut Pro (both editing software on the Mac).

     It wasn't until I went to Coral Gables Senior High School where I started to become more serious with my passion for videography. The Canon Rebel t3i was the first camera I was able to really experiment with and get the hang of. I would say feeling, instead of seeing, what moving the dial for the f-stop did or realizing what shutter speed I needed to have the camera on for the perfect picture all came natural to me. I continued to work on video packages (content) for my video production class but in the back of my mind I knew I wanted to start my path in photography. Upon graduating high school in 2013, I collected all of the graduation money I was blessed to received from family members, friends and my church, and bought my first camera, a Canon EOS 60D. My camera has been with me since then and I always try to carry it with me every where I go (you never go into battle without a weapon right?)

     Throughout those 5 years I've had my ups and downs, setback and comebacks, and my share of good and bad. I've had my months where I was booked every weekend and I've had my months where I felt like losing hope. But throughout it all I thank God for persistence and the act of "Failing Forward". I've learned (and I'm still learning) not to compare myself to others, to work with what I have, and to be grateful, confident, and determined to be the best photographer I KNOW I can become. I thank God for the mentors in my craft that He's placed in my life, specifically Santy Martinez, an awesome wedding photographer based in Miami Florida ( https://www.santymartinezphotographers.com/ ), for the audience I have looking at my work on social media, and for you, reading this blog post and being on my website where you can also find my work. Thank you and I hope you'll read my next post when it's up. Till then, be happy, be healthy, be blessed.