Some passions begin with a camera. Others begin with someone who sees potential before you see it yourself.

For Hailee Legler, owner of Hailee Legler Photography, both were true.

Long before she was photographing weddings across southern Wisconsin, Legler was an 8-year-old spending the night at her grandmother's house and experimenting with a digital camera.

"I remember she told me, 'You really have an eye for this. Not everyone has an eye for this,'" Legler said. "Since then, it has just been my passion."

Today, the New Glarus-area photographer is turning that lifelong passion into a growing business focused primarily on wedding and couples photography. While she first began taking senior portraits for friends during high school, she said the past two years have been when she began treating photography as a serious business.

"I've improved my skill so much over the last couple of years that I feel like, okay, I can really do this now," she said.