After mulling over my weekly blog for a month, I think I’m ready to publish Friday morning….
Recently overheard in a local brewery.
The Answer…
But first of all the question, (and it’s most frequent). “How long have you been a photographer Mike?” And the answer is “it depends”.
Let me ask you a philosophical question. Do you believe life begins at conception or at birth?
Okay, stick with me for a minute. Just when I became a photographer is kind of hard to nail down.
The Story
Here’s the story as best as I remember it. Sometime in 2006, (I was divorced again), I met a woman on MySpace. Her name is Caren Libby. We met for coffee the first time a Picasso’s in O’Fallon Missouri. Later on she came to my house in Lake St. Louis, and as she remembers it, she felt like I was “enthusiastic for photography”. She was too! As I remember it, Caren coerced me into leaving my compact Nikon pix camera behind and buying an entry level full featured camera. It was a Canon Rebel which I ran on full automatic to begin with, like most other professional photographers. That might have been the “conception”.
Caren Libby
On the left is a photo from St. Patrick’s day, 2007.
Caren was enthusiastic for shooting parades, gardens, historic homes and people. She still is. We met up last week for coffee at Kaldies in Kirkwood Missouri, cameras in tow. Both of us survived the last couple of years and took some lumps along the way. But hey! We made it. And after a nice visit we resolved to stay closer in touch. You can see Caren’s work here
I have to give Caren credit for piquing my interest in a more sophisticated level of photography. This selfie was taken April 4, 2022. (Neither of us has aged in the last 15 years.)
Thousands of Crappy Photographs Later
After that, I commenced to take thousands of crappy photographs. Occasionally getting a decent or even good photo. I joined a couple of photography clubs. Looking back through my files, I found a couple that came out of my first trimester in utero. Both in 2007.
Fashion Photographer
By 2009 I was crazy enough to sell myself as a fashion photographer and landed a fashion show in the Lumiere Hotel downtown St. Louis. One of the best things about photographing a fashion show, is the models are usually very friendly toward the photographer.
Here are two links you might find interesting. Pronto Behind the Scenes and Pronto Faves
13 Years Later
13 years later I find myself asking the question, how long have I been a photographer and I think the answer is, “it depends”. Maybe I’ll continue this discussion in a later blog.
For now, I have a couple of recent encounters with birds. On April 2nd I was looking for something in the garage and when I returned to my desk, lo and behold, there was a dove on my desk. I took that for the sign that it is. Later in the week, visiting with Caren, the World Bird Sanctuary had a rep in the mall with this Great Horned Owl.
In Closing
In closing, I’ve created a new portfolio that you can visit to see some of my recent work. I plan to update it several times a year to keep it fresh. You can see these images at AMAZING PHOTOGRAPHS.
And finally, let me remind you that having a professional photographer make some pictures for you once in awhile is a good idea. Hopefully I qualify when you are ready.
Peace,
Mike
Ps. I’d love to hear your comments. And if you do, leave your website in the appropriate box. It’s a way to connect my readers and google likes it when you do.