I Was a Homeless Teen Who Became an Award-Winning Wedding Photog

My name is Carsten Schertzer, and I’m a wedding photographer. My life right now is spent hopping from one wedding venue to the next, but it wasn’t always that way…

I picked up my first camera when I was 11 years old. I was completely enamored by the skateboarding culture and industry photographers at the time. I dreamed of photographing skateboarding for a living and tried relentlessly to make it in the skateboarding industry.

By the time I was 16, I dropped out of high school and was living on the streets of southern California. I was sleeping in public parks and friends’ couches but still pursuing my dream of being a skateboard photographer.

At 18 years old, and still not a professional skate photographer, I decided it was time for a change, I decided to pack my camera bag and drive to San Francisco and become a wedding photographer.

I spent weeks living out of a car and using Starbucks as my office. Slowly, using my skateboarding portfolio as my only reference, I was able to start booking clients, eventually turning weddings into my full-time job.

Today, I am 24 years old. I have traveled to 12 countries on 4 continents, all because of wedding photography.

I am so proud to say that I have the greatest job I could have ever imagined — one that’s even better than shooting skateboarding for a living!

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