I heard the news today that I’ll be losing my job by 4/29/05. My facility will be closing on 3/31 and I’m sticking around to wrap up the IT stuff. The good thing is that I’m considering wedding photography as my next path. I’ve always enjoyed it and I’m ready for new challenges.
Here’s a snip from a post that I made to give everyone a little background to who, why, and when….
“Everything happens for a reason they say. So, this year is my big push to become a wedding photographer.
I’ve always LOVED photography. The typical HS photographer stuff and I attended a Tech HS. I majored in graphic arts. We learned almost every aspect of layout, design, printing, typesetting, and darkroom production. I used to have a Canon AE-1 with the standard 50mm lens. I used to develop my own bw film and print my own prints on Ilford paper using a Patterson PCS 2000 enlarger (with the dichroic head), which I still have. I never did any color printing but, the bw stuff was fun and inexpensive to use. I just didn’t have the space to work with the color chemistry.
I graduated HS and tried to attend the Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale for photography. I couldn’t come up with the money and didn’t receive any support from my parents. So, I floundered around doing little to nothing. I eventually was married for the wrong reasons and had my daughter Allison. The marriage didn’t work and we split up almost 5 years later. I was 25 and still trying to figure out life. I worked at various print shops as a pre-press guy. It was fun and I enjoyed working with Photoshop, Illustrator, Freehand, Quark, and PageMaker. The creative jobs made it worth it. I worked side jobs designing flyers, catalogs, newsletters, and stuff. It was fun but the pay stunk.
I eventually practically fell into the IT boom and have been riding the wave since. I still kept my hands in design, working more with websites, newsletters, and ad design. I eventually picked up my first digital camera. It was a Kodak DC120. It was a far cry from quality but, I could have fun with it and satisfy my photographic needs. I bounced from job to job chasing the higher paying jobs. I eventually worked at sweet location on Newbury Street in Boston. Let me tell ya, the sights were so sweeeet! They spent big money on the office space that was completed shortly after I started. We had iMacs, PowerBooks, and I had a nice lil’Cube. They also purchased a Canon S210. It was a great little camera and I used it a lot. I took pictures of the field office IT installations and documentation. I loved that little camera. They also had a Canon GL-1 DV camera that they used to record client testimonials. I would download the video, edit it in iMovie, then save it for web usage.
Shortly after 9/11 we went through three rounds of layoffs. On the fourth round I lost my job. I managed to find other IT work and stay afloat. I landed at the Red Cross two years ago and a the same time moved in with my soon to be second wife and her three kids. We also meet online. Actually through AOL. She’s a superwoman. She amazed me with her work ethic, drive, motherly nature, and exceptional people skills. Not to mention, her good looks.
So, we got married on 7/5/01 and our photographer shot film. He was a friend of a friend. He wasn’t high end by any means but, was a really nice guy. After we were married we always discussed starting a business. We talked at length of different ideas and never quite figured out what to do. Another hobby of mine is flying remote control sailplanes and electric planes. My wife bought me Canon S230 for my birthday and I started to capture images of the airplanes and people I’d fly with. Eventually, I created website for members fo the club to see the pictures. In and around the time I started to research the DSLR cameras. I’d seen some at the field when we had soaring contests. I really had to have one but, price was an issue and I was concerned about the resolution.
I eventually figured that I really liked photography and wanted to shoot professionally some day. I called the photographer who shot my wedding and asked if I could assist him. He obliged and I accompanied him to several weddings strictly observing and helping out with group shots. I really liked the weddings and I realized I would have to sacrifice to continue in this line of work. I sold a majority of my sailplanes and electric planes to generate some cash. Initially, I was looking at the 10D but, I was hearing the likelihood of the new 20D coming out shortly. I held out till the press release and went to my local camera shop and slapped down the cash for the 20D. It arrived in about a month and I started shooting at the weddings that I assisted at…”
