I used to want to be a photographer…
4 moves, 3 states, 2 schools and 1 wedding latter I was living in Hawaii with my husband attending the University of Hawaii at Manoa. I earned my Associates of Art at Des Moines Community College and was looking forward to a fresh start and hopefully a realization of what I wanted to do as a career (still looking for that realization). I loved art, I loved photography, and I loved advertising. My goal now, was to earn a degree that would 1. Let me actually finish school and 2. Let me finish in 3 years before we moved on to our next duty station.
The University of Hawaii was not my first choice but I was lucky enough to be able to receive an education with minimal cost. My practical side knew that it wasn’t the degree or institution that was important; it was having a degree to get your foot in the door. Deciding the degree was a little more difficult as choices were more limited. At Columbia College, Advertising and Art went hand in hand. At UH, not so much. In order to get the business classes I wanted but the art classes I adored, I did what any stubborn…er.. sensible person would do and designed a major; Art Gallery Management. I mixed my passions of Art, Art History and Theory, Business, Communication into one compact, get me out the door in 2 years, degree. Plus, the idea of maybe possibly opening up an Art Gallery Wine Bar one day after military life sounds so appealing.
Professional Photography was a memory and my new career path was to allow me to display works by much more talented people than myself. At school I took wonderful and interesting classes, one where I got to design my business plan, another where I designed art exhibitions, and yet another where I was the Team Leader for a marketing campaign. I loved that I had actually found a way to act on my interests while earning a degree.
It would seem to most people that Hawaii would be the perfect spot to expand on my photography. I was surrounded by beauty. Unfortunately, My Pentax ZX 30 35mm fully functioning camera was “misplaced” during the move. We were reimbursed but not nearly enough to replace. Also, being a newly married couple paying my husband’s student loans as well as my current tuition, a camera was not in our budget. We could have made it work financially, but that passion wasn’t there. I still took pictures with a point and shoot and got some great ones (it doesn't always take a great camera to be a great photographer). I also had a friend who is a hobbyist photographer and could easily put his medical career aside and become a nature photographer. The beauty he was able to capture through his lens was far beyond my talents nor desire. There was no reason for me to document the landscape that was our backyard when he could do it so much better.
Things changed when I found out I was pregnant with our first child. My husband bought me a Nikon D40 DSLR camera as a “Push Present” (google it, it is a real thing). I had a motive to document this new little being’s life on camera. We were also moving to Germany and while Hawaii is beautiful, I knew I would fit more into the European lifestyle. The photographer in me started to rise to the surface again.
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