We promise that never again will a pun ever grace this blog! (Right foot…ankle injury…get it?? Haha!) In all seriousness, the idea for this blog was conceived nearly 2 years after I started shooting weddings professionally. At that time, my schedule wasn’t nearly as busy as it is now and I had so many exciting ideas and so much inspiration that absolutely nothing was going to stand in my way! Flash forward to Fall 2014 and here I sit with an embarrassingly huge medical boot and an ankle the size of a softball. Never would I have imagined that I would be launching my beautiful, sparkly new blog while nursing such an injury. Having a crippling injury during the last 5 weddings of the season is a problem…a huge, grand, phenomenal problem. But with a team of incredible assistant photographers, mobile editing and supportive and encouraging clients, we made it. After conquering the greatest challenge my business has ever faced, Alexandra T. Wren Photography is growing faster than ever. The secret? Maneuvering obstacles positively to reinvent your business while coming out on the other side as a better version of yourself.

Naturally, I am not a confident person. Anyone who runs a business, and anyone who has ever had to speak publicly, gone on an interview, etc., knows that confidence radiates and sets you apart from others. Lack of confidence can have a good ripple effect or a bad ripple effect; fortunately for people who like to challenge themselves like I do, confidence can be encouraged and the flames of your self-esteem can erupt brilliantly. It’s because of this need for me to put that extra effort into becoming confident that I took on the challenge to become the first female firetruck driver in my Fire Department’s 100-year history. Even after 8 years of being a volunteer firefighter in my suburban NY hometown, the thought of operating a huge truck with a bunch of men watching my every move and mistake, and the risk of injuring someone was mortifying to me. But I did it. Months of training and cold mornings and a lot of slapping down the thought of “I can’t do this” resulted in my becoming qualified with only 3 other awesome trainees.

It was hard, terrifying and embarrassing but it was worth it. But true to my nature, the confidence wore off. My business and work prevented training most nights and I became self-conscious and skittish about putting my new driving skills to work. Without practice, everyone gets rusty. My rustiness was crippling and prevented me from driving at all, for fear of making a mistake and injuring a fellow firefighter. But after much thought, the reward of tackling this enormous challenge of driving again was worth the risk of looking foolish or inexperienced, and on the early morning of September 25, 2014 I drove the firetruck for the first time in months. When I got out of bed for the second fire call of the night, the truck had already been pulled out so I became a passenger but I was so proud to be there. It was from the cab of the very truck I had just driven an hour ago that I jumped from, landing directly on my right ankle, nearly breaking 3 major bones, tearing a nerve that runs from my toes up my leg, and tearing all the ligaments in the outer ankle. Responding to my second fire call in months, and I failed. My first words as I collapsed (in a thorn bush, of all things!!) was “Please, no. My weddings.” And that’s completely right…we had 5 weddings remaining in the season, and I was on the ground at a structure fire at 1:30am in the worst pain I have ever experienced. At the time, this challenge seemed like a career ender. How could I get through this, when my work is 9+ hours of standing, running and crouching? I got through it.

In retrospect, this experience has helped the launch of this project, as I not only have a lifetime’s worth of new experience and blogging material but because I have grown. Aside from passion, the heart of running a successful business is growth…and the main source of growth is a challenge. If you have no hurdles, no conundrums, no struggling, you are not only stationary, you are sliding backwards. Challenges can be fun and they can be hard but they ultimately take you somewhere new. Running a business with a traumatic injury has been my biggest challenge as a professional photographer but it has been my biggest catapult. I have had to be more creative, versatile and patient than I’ve ever been. My appreciation for my work, my staff, my clients and myself has skyrocketed and the realization that no hurdle is too high reverberates in everything I do. Challenges propel or cripple…it’s up to you!

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