j |
. |
n |
i |
c |
h |
o |
l |
e |
part I | follow your bliss
All through high school, weekend after weekend, I would change into royal blue scrubs and no-slip sneakers and spend my valuable "days off" taking the weights, temps, and x-rays of tabbies and labradors at the local animal clinic. When I would arrive home exhausted, covered in pet hair and cleaning solvents, I would think to myself "this is a great foundation for your career."
I couldn't possibly know then, how right I was.
And all through high school, evening after evening, I would eagerly retreat to the red-lit solace of the darkroom to spend hours, fingers pressed to rubber-tipped tongs and eyes squinting at soaked paper beneath swirling chemicals in rows of plastic trays. When I would arrive home exhausted, the thrill of my latest collection of film and photographs would vastly eclipse my annoyance at the loss of yet another pair of pants to chemical spots, and somehow I never once thought to myself "you should do this for a living."
* * *
Like most girls who didn't hate school and did "love animals" I was pretty sure I wanted to be a Veterinarian. The words "starving artist" were programmed so deeply into my subconscious that despite a constant photographic craving, supportive parents, a glimmer of raw talent and decent enough grades to secure my choice of schools: "Photographer" just wasn't a job description I had ever even let myself consider.
Then one fateful day, my harsh but fair photography teacher tore up a still-wet photograph I had just printed, and as he threw it in the trash he looked at me straight in the eye and in a stern tone said, "Have you ever considered photography as a career?"
A strange time to ask this, I remember thinking, since he was in the middle of yelling at me about test strips and exposure times; but never-the-less, in that tiny moment I realized... No, I had never considered photography as a career, and more than that... Maybe I should?
Combine this consideration with an obligatory senior year "career aptitude test" that yelled loudly that I was fit for one job, and one job only, and a warning from my boss, the Veterinarian, who saw photos I had taken of animals in the clinic and promptly both noted my skill, and gently informed me that there would be no time for art in Vet school... And you have the makings of a turning point.
And so it was.
I found a job at semi-local portrait studio, I found the school I wanted to earn my art degree at, and I set my course for my dream-come-true: Professional Photographer.
* * *
There has been a lot of twists and turns in the story since then... Lots of schooling and traveling, millions of photographs taken, both framed and forgotten. I am still quite young, but it seems a lifetime ago when the pre-graduation advice I regularly received from family and teachers was "do what you love for a living" and I started to discover what that truly meant.
Once done with college, one thing became abundantly clear: If I was going to succeed as a photographer, I was going to need a niche. Despite my undying admiration for my mentor and boss, Jennifer Loomis, I knew maternity photography was not for me. But it was with her counsel, and a consideration for my other passions (which of course included my new Great Dane puppy Olivia) that I came to one, very simple, perfectly combined conclusion: Pet Photography.
