I've Retired!
Thank you to all of you who have welcomed me into your families to experience some of the most important moments of your lives. I feel truly honored and incredibly blessed.
In 2015, I started going to SIUE for accounting. I knew my body wouldn't allow me to do photography forever, so accounting was a good future career that could also help me with the business side of photography in the meantime. The closer I got to my master's degree, the more I realized that my "Plan B" was going to come sooner than I expected. The pain I deal with during and after photo shoots, and especially weddings, progressively got more intense. It got to the point where I no longer looked forward to photography. From the beginning of Bolla Photography, I've always said that if at any point I stop enjoying it, I would quit the biz. Clients deserve someone who is excited about photography.
So after over a decade in the biz, I made the decision in 2019 to quit weddings, only taking on two final weddings that year - for two very special couples. I couldn't have imagined a better finale to my wedding career!
As bittersweet and difficult as that decision was (I may or may not have bawled like a baby on my way home from my very last wedding), it was definitely the right decision at the right time for me. And at the end of 2020, I decided to take it a step further and close down Bolla Photography entirely. I am instead focusing on my new career as a CPA, and also focusing on my health. In 2021 I was diagnosed with a genetic disorder, which helps explain the pain I have been dealing with over the years. Even though I may not lug my photography gear around very often any more, photography will always be part of my identity and I still view the world as if looking through my camera lens, composing photos everywhere I look.
I am forever grateful for all of the absolutely amazing people I have met through Bolla Photography. You will be a part of me always.
