We were lucky to catch up with Edward Walker Jr recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Edward thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

This is the start of my third year of being a full-time wedding photographer. Ive had my ups and downs on this journey, but I wouldn’t trade them in for anything. I didn’t have a mentor, so everything in my business has been trail and error. But I can truly say that it’s such a blessing to be able to do what I love while providing for my family. Whole Heart Images was created right before the pandemic. This three year journey of running wedding photography business has been very eventful with finding new and approved ways to serve people on their very special day. I credit my success to my wife, she has always believing in my vision. Also to a handful of local wedding photographers, that started around the same time as I did. We encourage/motive, and push each other to try to do everything with excellence. That’s what sped up this process for me, was to not do this journey alone. There truly is power in healthy business relationships.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

My photography journey started in 2016 when I enrolled into college to pursue a career in education. I had a lot of challenging courses my first semester, so I decided to take a photography course so I could at least have one easy A grade. It backfired, because it turned out that photography was the hardest class out of all the courses I had enrolled in. But that’s where I fell in love with photography. The long nights learning about how to get the best results in any lighting situations, compositions and just learning my camera inside and out.

My professor saw the passion in me and started to mentor me. He critiqued my work a lot harsher, and didn’t sugarcoat any of his advice. I truly thank him for his honesty. He also brought my name up to a lot of his friends which gave me a lot of unique opportunities in my first two years of photography. I took a liking to all types of photography (portraits, couples, family, food, landscape and product), and that’s why I absolutely love wedding photography. When photographing a wedding you’re doing every type of photography in a 6-8 hour window. Photography is much more than just pushing a button for me, and it’s such an honor to be a part of what most would call one of the greatest days of their life. Long story short, I just love capturing LOVE!

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding thing is simple for me, it’s to add value to the wedding day in anyway that I can. 98% of the clients I get, this is their first wedding, so this process can be overwhelming at times. I pride myself in helping them through it all, from the planning aspect to executing the timeline on their wedding day, and everything in-between. Informing clients and walking them though everything helps in so many ways. The main thing it does is to help them be in the moment on their wedding day, and not focused on what comes next.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Absolutely, books have played a big roll in how I see and do things. The books are Start with Why by Simon, and Tribes by Seth Godin. The number one thing I’ve taking away from these books is actually not said in the books, but rather a thought I got while reading them. It’s to view people as people, and not clients. So simple, but it’s such a powerful thing!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.WholeHeartImages.com
• Instagram: Whole Heart Images
• Facebook: Whole Heart Images
• Youtube: Edward Walker Jr.