One of the things I struggled with in my career as a photographer was deciding to leave a blossoming career as a web developer precisely at a time when the world was embracing the online experience. It was an ongoing question that provided me with sleepless nights for almost a year as I lay in bed in constant consideration. Being a developer offered many advantages: great pay; a constant variety of problems to solve; and the potential of being a part of the next Google or Facebook.
It was a tough choice between leaving a company that felt like my baby through years of struggle to start fresh and unproven in an entirely new industry. Ultimately, a faint but incessant voice in my head made me realize that what I was yearning for in my life was creativity. Visual creativity. Even though programming required a certain level of creative problem solving, not being able to be visually creative was making me feel discontent and disillusioned.
I finally made the decision to hang up my programming hat and get behind the camera full time – a decision that would be wrought with false starts and filled with mountains of self-doubt. During those early days of searching for my style, I would constantly wonder if I would ever produce work I could be proud of. I would pour through magazines, stare at ads, devour blogs and would struggle to consolidate the great work others were making with the mediocre results I was obtaining.
Slowly, and only by forcing myself through many embarrassingly inadequate shoots, did a light slowly appear in the abyss of the tunnel. It started as having a faint flicker of an idea of an image that I wanted to create and evolved into seeing a vivid mental image of a scene where I would know what settings I needed and where I had to put myself to get it. I started to not worry about my camera and became free to finally focus on my subjects. I was beginning to see moments and not just compositions, stories that I wanted to capture and not just images.
My photography career has its roots second shooting for more established wedding photographers who were gracious enough to allow me the opportunity to work with and learn from them. Weddings, however, just were not enough for me, and I began searching for what made me passionate behind the lens. That is when I rediscovered my long time love of dogs and decided to specialize in pet photography.
I really try to focus on two things when photographing dogs: the individual personality of the dog and the relationship that the dog has with its owner. The relationship can be seen through the quirks and minutiae unique to them: the way an owner carries a toy dog under their arm like a folder or the longing stare out a window as an owner steps out – these are the things I strive to showcase in my shoots.
I am fortunate to have a pedigree in wedding photography as many aspects are similar: the unpredictable personalities of your subjects; constantly changing lighting conditions; and having to spontaneously create images with what’s available on location.
Of course, when dealing with dogs, however well trained, often means having only a moment or two to put everything together, get in position and snap a frame. You will often find me either flat out running or sprawling on the ground to get into position for the next shot. Most days end with an exhausted dog and photographer.
Then I wake up and do it all over again. Which beats clocking into a cubicle any day.
It looks like you’ve done well for yourself! I admire you taking that step of leaving a solid career behind to do what you love. Congratulations!
Great profile! Kudos on deciding to go into photog work full time, it’s something that I’m currently struggling with, leaving my career of 10 yrs in telecommunications to go full force into photography.
I tip my hat to you David, hopefully some day I’ll have the guts to take the plunge.
Wow this is powerful stuff. Been there and now jumping into Photography. I actually had to leave behind Web Development for supervision, family matters and photography. I still do a little J-query, CSS and other stuff, but not on a grand scale. To be honest, I don’t miss it. Now I am just beginning to photograph people. Most of my clients have asked for jobs inside, with inadequate lighting that I can’t change. What a pain. I am trying to line up some other shoots for engagements and parties. This story was eerily similar to mine. What a great read. Thanks for sharing with us.