Taking The Leap

Jade Eaton
Dec 22, 2018
4 min read

As 2018 draws to a close, I think it's time to explain my 'why?' Why Belfast? Why did I move 500 miles away from friends and family to a City I knew little about and knew no one in. Why photography? You'd think it would be an easy question but it required a lot of reflection to answer, many of times I guess you could have easily packed up everything and moved home because it was too hard.

Rewind just over three years, back to when I had finished this art piece in my BTEC Art course and it was time to decipher where I was going for my next steps in life. Where I was going for University? Where was my life going to be for the next three plus years. A lot of thought had to begin. I went on holiday for my 18th to Dublin with my friend, little did I know I was going to fall in love with the people and the atmosphere. This was completely different to my hometown and only a short flight away instead of a couple hours drive. However I knew you'd never get student finance there so that went off to the back of my mind... until I woke one day and thought Northern Ireland? That is the UK. Hmmm Let's have a nosey...

Unfortunately to my finding, the open date for the Belfast campus didn't suit with my college timetables so I gave the campus a message and explained my situation. Well... they organised me the whole works for when I could come over, catering to every single need. I was blown away with it all. Absolutely Amazing. The people in Belfast, the City, the Landscape. I could see myself living here for years. It wasn't just a 'student City'... it was a place I could call home.

I was sold. I was so sold that I revoked my Nottingham Trent application and put all my cards on getting a place in the BA Photography course at Belfast University Of Ulster which had a 20/300 application chance. It was a risk but nothing good comes without taking risks in life. Taking the leap paid off. So months later I was preparing my goodbyes and filling my small Renault Clio with all of my belongings to do the big move from my small hometown of Hereford on the border of wales to Belfast in Northern Ireland. Was it easy? Yes and no.

I knew if I had true friends in my hometown we wouldn't fall out of touch and I would do my upmost to stay in touch. This was the same with my Family who i'm very close with.. as they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder. The one thing that was always in my mind was that I needed to take risks if I wanted my own photography studio.

I had to do this for me.

For my future.

A new life began in Belfast...

Did I have multiple occasions where I could have given up and ran back home? Yes.

Like the time I got bronchitis and sprained my ribs from coughing 6 months into moving over to Belfast.

Like the time my dad; who I had lived with the years before moving over, the person who didn't want me to move so far away because if I needed him... he couldn't be there in a flash. Had a thrombotic stroke in his 40's.

Like the time my nan gave up her fight from having her stroke several years before.

Like the time all of the University tutors felt against me because I was different... because I wanted to do commercial work not documentary.

But Nothing Great Comes Easy.

Now don't get me wrong, University was great. But University, the teaching part, doesn't teach you everything and isn't for everyone, especially in the industry I wanted to go into. But University, the whole experience.. teaches you everything. It mostly taught me confidence and self-belief. It all begins with you. Confidence is a huge concept that is under-rated but it can get you so far.

Here's the part where you're hoping for a happy ending right?

It exists. You make your own ending. I love this quote that says "Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not good, it's not the end."

I am now proud to say after graduating this year, I have a growing photography business based in Belfast that specialises in Newborn, Baby and Family Photography. My dad is fully recovered like he never even had a stroke and my nan is happier and always in my heart.

I'm the proud owner of a photography studio that captures the true essence of the individuals. Their cheekiness or their missing teeth at the age of three or even their love for each other. Everyone has a story to tell and I cannot wait to share that story through your images, whether that's your little one showing me her wee belly or laughing at the feeling of a fluffy fake chick on your cheek. I have so much passion for what I do and am always inspired and progressing and having photographed so many special moments over this past year, I'm honoured to continue doing it for years to come.

Thank you for reading my story. Now let me tell yours...

www.jadeeatonphotography.co.uk