Today’s Beyond the Labels essay comes from Tylee Shay a photographer, writer, and new author. Her coffee table book Lakeside Living will be published in 2026 featuring her lakeside photography along with essays on savoring the sacred summer season at the lakeshore. She lives in Grand Rapids with her husband where they spend as much time as they can at the lake. I hope her words remind you that your passions don’t have to compete—they might just belong together.
You can connect with her on Instagram @tylee.shay or by subscribing to her Substack, Prose & Photos, where she shares her travel adventures, film photos, book recommendations, and slow-paced lifestyle in Michigan.
I’ve been a writer for as long as I can remember, and a photographer for almost just as long. I filled so many journals and notebooks as a kid, ever since the day I could write. I wrote diary entries, devotionals, prayers, and a log of every book I read and what my thoughts were about it. I had a plastic tote in my closet filled with journals, each one filled with words. I later studied writing in college, sought out every freelance opportunity I could find, and began pitching my book ideas to publishers in the hopes of someday becoming an author.
I also picked up my mom’s camera at a young age. I would take photos of my friends and self-timer portraits. By high school, I had saved up enough birthday money to buy my own camera, a Canon Rebel, and that camera started a photography side hustle all throughout my college years. Shortly after graduating college, my not-so-little photography business became my full-time job and has been ever since.
These two passions—writing and photography—have been a part of my life for the majority of my life. However, a few years ago I hit roadblocks with writing. Publishers said I lacked the proper platform to become an author, and I got disheartened after several rejections.
Meanwhile, my photography was paying the bills and inquiries kept coming in, so I let my writing dreams take the back burner while my photography business flourished. Photography became more of my main ‘thing’; it became my brand and identity for the past decade. It became my label.
But all along, my desire to write still burned like a small flame. It was something that I couldn’t escape from. Moments of inspiration would strike me while I was on an airplane, lying in bed at night, or watching a sunset, and I’d promptly pull out my phone or journal—or whatever I could get my hands on—and write as fast as my fingers allowed.
While I loved my photography business (and still do), and while I’ve found immense fulfillment from it, this desire to write was always there too.
I’ve spent years wondering how it could all fit together, this desire for both. Everyone says to pick a niche, be an expert at one thing, so I felt like it had to be one or the other. The messaging I’ve heard online for multi-passionate people always talks about how to get help, find focus, and learn to thrive—as if being multi-passionate is something to fix and overcome.
So I’ve always felt like it had to be either/or, even though I’ve always felt called to both/and. It wasn’t until recently that I wondered if these two passions could actually complement each other.
I began brainstorming ways to blend my photos and prose, trying to let both gifts shine at the same time and illuminate one another. I wondered if maybe they belonged together all along—hand in hand, camera in one, pen in the other.
That curiosity led me to where I am now: a soon-to-be author publishing a coffee table book filled with my imagery and essays. A beautiful blend of my two greatest callings, an opportunity that never would have happened if I hadn’t paired my two passions, and the deepest contentment and excitement I’ve ever known.
I believe that our greatest fulfillment lies in the intersection between our passions. I believe we were made for more labels than one.
There are tons of amazing photographers in the world, and there are just as many talented writers in the world, but there are far fewer who do both—and that’s my superpower.
I discovered that my unique offering is the fact that I am both a photographer and a writer. God didn’t give me just words; He gave me an eye for imagery too, and He always knew how impactful it would be if I put the two together.
God never wanted you to choose only one of the desires that He placed on your heart—He gave you both for a reason.
So what’s yours? What are the different things that tug on your heart, and how might those complement each other in a special way? What are two (or three!) labels that you carry, and which ones can you combine to make a unique offering?
When we look at our strengths one by one, it may seem like they’re unrelated or insignificant. But when you look at the intersection of your various talents, that’s your unique offering. No one else is made up of the same combination of ingredients and flavors as you.
Maybe you’re a painter who also loves music. You could create paintings that embody a certain song or album, or do live paintings at musical events, or collaborate with your favorite musician to create artwork for them to sell on their tour, or post videos of you painting with your original music as the audio.
Maybe you love to garden and you also write poetry. You could write poems about certain plants that grow in your garden, host a poetry slam in your garden, start a Produce & Poetry stand at your local farmers market, or set up a table of free fresh-picked flowers and free verse poems in your front yard for neighbors to take and brighten their day.
Whatever it is for you… painter, musician, fashion enthusiast, writer, mother, thrifter, interior designer, gardener, cook, baker, graphic designer, poet, barista, songwriter, videographer, makeup artist, hostess, fitness instructor, believer, traveler, homemaker, florist, potter, jewelry maker, illustrator…
When we lay out all of the various labels we put on ourselves and begin looking for ways to pair them together, I believe they compound into our greatest calling.
And when a woman is living into her greatest calling, we can all feel it—and it inspires the rest of us to do the same.
A note from Tylee: For further reading, The Crossroads of Should and Must by Elle Luna is a wonderful book for finding the common thread between your gifts and passions. It greatly helped me discover my calling. I hope it helps you too.
Thank you, Tylee, for showing us what it looks like to live in the intersection of your gifts. If you’re a woman who’s ever felt like you had to pick just one label to wear, may this be your permission slip to stop choosing and start integrating. You were never meant to be just one thing.
This post is part of Beyond the Labels—a Threshold series about discovering who you are beneath the titles, expectations, and roles we carry.
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