Last night I took a drive down to Robert Dahey’s little house on the prairie for some Korean BBQ.  As we were winding down, Robert had asked us why we did what we did and what made us so passionate about it.  It was a great conversation and these are the times I wish I was able to record it somehow.

So, why photography?  Well I grew up around it.  My mom was a hobbyist photographer, and she took really great photos of me as a child.  I have albums upon albums of childhood pictures.  I was immediately fascinated by all the equipment — the way that Nikon F2 looked, the lenses, the mechanics of it.  I grew up in the Star Wars generation, and her gear looked so sci-fi to me.  She taught me the basics of exposure and depth of field, and how to use a manual camera.  Later on I would use that camera until it died, and was ill-advised to get rid of it instead of repair it.  I regret that very much.

There is also something about being able to capture a fraction of a second in time — a moment so unique it can never ever be duplicated again.  I am a very sentimental and nostalgic person, and being able to have that moment to carry with me is truly something special.

During this conversation, Robert and I realized there was something quite ironic about us doing photography for a living.  For myself, the irony lay in the fact that although my mom loved photography, she would have never wanted me to shoot for a living.  Instead, she pushed me towards becoming a doctor — a surgeon in fact.  For her, a living in the arts represented instability in life as well as hardship, the stereotypical “starving artist.”  I grew up through some rough times, and in hindsight I know my mom just wanted me to have a better life than she did.  I remember pleading with her my junior year in high school to let me apply to art school.  Sometimes I wonder what would have become of me had I gone to art school, but that is neither here nor there, and it is purely unrealistic, but it is fun to imagine.  

At any rate, I am here.  Doing the one thing I love doing.  The one thing I can see myself doing until I pass away.  And the best part about it is — it is because of my mom that I am happy being a photographer; I feel as though I still have her with me in some aspect.  I miss her greatly.