VII. Life, Round Two…A Friend to Ledger Moses

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Everyone who knows me knows that in spite of my passion for photography, movies, and the arts, I still work in the field of Engineering with a fair amount of belabored apathy. What a lot of people don’t know is that there was a time that I absolutely loved math and science, and photography was no where close to being on my mind. I went to a high school that specialized in math, science, and technology; I went on to college to major in Physics; I then went on to grad school to study Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science with a concentration in Biological Materials & Material Systems. Now, I stand before you today as I successfully build a business in photography and the preservation of memories. Was any of that education I received a waste of my time? Not a single ounce of it.

I discovered a love for movies and aspirations to make them someday right before my sophomore year in college; there’s something magical about creating worlds and characters that don’t exist, even the most mundane, and our human ability to be captured by their stories so genuinely. I will admit, there was an incredible amount of difficulty for me to continue putting my energy into sciences when I knew that my heart had shifted into the arts…but the path I was on wasn’t an easy one to break from. I even applied to film school and did not get in, but I chose to pick up an SLR camera instead.**

The shy kid who spent so much of his life staying quiet and observing the world finally had a chance to put the amalgam of those observations on film for the world to see. What I quickly noticed was that all of those movies I had watched began to filter into my photographic style: layered compositions, subjects off-center in the frame, soft natural light**, etc. I hadn’t picked up a single book nor asked a single question from anyone, including myself, about how to take a photograph; I simply did it and, more importantly, I kept doing it.

When I began to dig deeper into becoming a better artist, I was appreciative of how technical the art truly was and the balance needed in that duality. Even on the most basic level – apertures, shutter speeds, inverse square law, etc. – these technical things must be wielded in a manner that yields something that evokes emotions. All of that math and science that I had made my way through was coming into play, even if its execution was in a visceral, not literal, kind of way. However, the amount of scientific education was not overkill since its abundance was, and is, the very source of just how accessible the technical side of my artistry is. My sensibilities on things are specific (i.e., the scientist in me) yet open-ended...the very way of an artist. I do not believe that things must be done a specific way in order to accomplish a goal (e.g., a finished art), yet whatever atypical, perhaps even controversial, manner in which I choose to accomplish a goal is done with vision and specificity.

Rules come from a place of accomplishments that have most often risen out of a typical course of action, but accomplishments can take place by taking unchartered paths, albeit risky. There are no supposed to’s or must’s. On the edge of uncertainty is where creation is born, and it is diverse and thorough education that can best equip us to face that uncertainty. Necessity may be the mother of invention, but prudence is just as golden; no education – not a single class, textbook, nor life experience – is a waste of time. Our minds are muscles that must be exercised, which happens most effectively when we are young; and the more diverse that muscle has been built, then the stronger our foundation for applying it to a range of things that we either may choose or that come our way against our will. Schools up through grade 12 teach all subjects not simply because people should know “the basics” but because our foundations are built to give us options and help us discover where our strengths are.

I never thought I would own a business, but I did so to expand my opportunities to do photography. Yes, it’s old news that many people go on to do things that have little to do with their college degrees, but this is so rampant because everything we learn shapes how we think not just what we do. I’m an artist, but I am now a businessman as well. Chemical Vapor Deposition techniques and the Physics of photovoltaics might have nothing to do with how to take a photograph, but learning those things taught me how to analyze situations and solve problems. I learned both the mechanics of biological molecules as well as the poetry in the works of Walt Whitman. My grades took a turn for the better when I stopped caring about grades and started focusing on what the whole point was: to learn, no matter which class I was in.

Granted, these blogs that I write to you aren’t sweeping literary epics that will win awards someday; they have their flaws, but they do get the point across in a relatively nuanced way. Had I decided in high school that I was strictly a math and science guy like my passions and my test scores had depicted, (not only would Mr. Reich have kicked my hide for not paying attention in English class but) my abilities as a photographer may have never been discovered, and where would my ability to write to you now be? I write to you because I want you to know me, your photographer, beyond my ability to take a photograph because our connection to one another matters since it shows in my work. If I could not express all of the complexities of my thoughts and feelings on things down to their very niblets, where would that connection be? I am an artist, I am in business, I am your photographer and who knows what next…because I never questioned why I needed to learn. No matter your background, do whatever it is that you dream…because the rest of your life starts now.