The origins of Erin Pleasants Photography

I once heard a quote, "Wherever you are, be all there." If I am going to go to school and get a cybersecurity degree, I needed to go all in. But if I wanted to turn my hobby into a business, I needed to wholeheartedly pursue that, so I did. I learned all I could, purchased courses to help refine my photography skills and manage the business side of things, and by 2020 I was officially in business! I had about a year and a half in business photographing families and seniors, and even my first wedding (which I quickly learned wedding photography is not my calling!) But then, my world changed.

In 2021 I met my (now) husband Steven, and he started asking me tough questions about my faith. At this time I was part of a very legalistic church and I was already struggling with some of the beliefs that I was told to have. But the problem was I had built my entire client base from families at church, and I was afraid that if I decided to leave that church, then I would ruin all the hard work I had done the last two years. I told Steven these worries and he said to me that it sounded like I already had made up my mind about what I wanted to do, I was just too scared to do it. He was right. But I was right too. I left the legalistic church and pursued a relationship with Jesus. I found a new church and a few months later in 2022 I got baptized. As soon as members of my old church found out I got baptized somewhere else I lost collectively over 300 Facebook friends, Instagram followers, and with that... all of my clients. I had to shut my business down because I couldn't afford to stay open.