Announcing: Do What You Love

I have been hinting and making little vague references to some big cool news around here for a couple weeks now, with no real details or information to go on. Sorry about that :) As things continue to develop and take shape, I feel like now is an appropriate time to share this news with the very good people who read here, and for those of you who have been reading from the beginning, you know more than anybody how much I have been trying to get my photography career going. You remember how low things got when NOBODY was hiring photographers in the midst of this newly dubbed "Great Recession."

One of the most unexpected and wonderful surprises about this blog, is that I get a number of private emails from people from all over that get a little comfort out of reading about someone else trying to make their dreams come true. They are usually emails from people that are on the fence about whether they should be heading down a safer more conventional career path, or sticking to their guns and continuing their push to get to a place where they can support their life on their own dreams. I don't just get these from fellow photographers, but all kinds of dreamers. It's truly awesome, and in turn, it inspires me. It has opened my eyes wide to find all kinds of people out there that have discovered ways to make a living doing what they love. I see it everywhere, and I feel like one of the only good things that came out of this recession and dark times, is that for many people when the doors were shut to conventional jobs or they became victims of cut-backs and closures, they did not lay down and take it, they rose up and turned to innovation. They looked within their own hearts and the entrepreneurial spirit came alive, and I see so many people who have found a way to work for themselves, and when jobs could not be found, created their own. Or just decided: "Screw it! I'm going back to school so I can become what I want." Or for people who lost a big chunk of their clientele figured out ways to attract new business. If you were looking for it, and not watching CNN drone on about speculations of how doomed we all were, there was a movement happening. People finding a way to Do What They Love. It was reassuring and exciting, and really helped keep me plowing forward toward my goals. When the sea of employment opportunities dried up, jobs became sacred in a whole new way.

Have I told you the news yet?

Another thing that I have referenced several times is the huge amount of rejection that is involved in constantly pitching ideas to brands, or dreaming up campaigns, or ways to tie in photography in a way that has not been done before on the web. So in the midst of doing this, and drowning in a sea of NO REPLIES. I had thought up a new maternity series that I wanted to do, and I knew that I wanted to go after Gap Maternity to see if they would be interested in donating clothes to the cause. I just wanted some clothes, and I wanted to do one last series that would really cement what I do in celebrating a pregnancy. I have been so lucky in the first two series to have such great clothes to pick from, and I wanted to carry on that tradition. So I tracked down a name at the Gap, wrote my pitch, crossed my fingers like I always do, and nothing. I did not hear anything for weeks. And then...

All of the sudden I do get a reply, and it was incredible. They loved the maternity work I had done, they said sure we can support your series with clothes, but then out of nowhere I was simply asked, if I had any ideas or effort I would like to put towards the Gaps new denim line for the web. The 1969 line-- specifically the womens division. I did actually. And so I ran it by them, and they loved the idea, and all of the sudden I was sitting at home slack-jawed and scratching my head, and said to Cole: "The Gap just hired me to do a web campaign." and we cried. It felt incredible to have someone put so much belief in an idea I had, and then to just let me loose. I keep inching closer and closer to realizing the dream of being a full time photographer putting food on the table for this family by what comes out of my camera. It was even more sweet that I was getting to work with the Gap, because ever since they launched their Born to Fit line Cole has been after me to work with them. She would bring me magazines and be like-- "Do you see what they have been doing? It's cool, get on that." It has been moves like that. Small moves, but the fact that Cole can show me something in a magazine and suggest that I find a way to work with a huge brand. She just believes that I can do these things, and so I start to believe.

Are you ready to hear what i am going to be doing?

Starting in a few weeks, on Monday mornings, I am going to begin a new photo and video series here on Pacing The Panic Room where I will be profiling women from all over who have found a way to Do What They Love. I drew from the one thing that has inspired me the most, finding people that are living their lives on their own terms and truly doing what they love for a living, from artists, to teachers, to candlestick makers, anything that keeps a big smile on the face. Of course I wanted to start with two women that you all know the best Cole :) and then Trish, and then I wanted to introduce you to more, so many more, from all over the map. Sharing in a deeper way what they do, and how they got there. Finding these stories has been a little army of reassurance that it's okay to run down lofty ideas, to have total belief in yourself. This isn't about people with magical fantasy dream lives, this is about people that found a way to make their life less complicated and happy by following their hearts, and doing something that moved them. So as things continue to come together and I get this series up and running and fully realized, I wanted you all to know what the heck was going on around here, and especially to all the people that have written with encouragement, or support, or just a friendly hello, I need you to know how much that means to this family. Thank you.

So.

Monday mornings. Starting somewhere in September, (I am not totally sure yet.) The "Do What You Love" series will begin, and will also proudly be appearing HERE. I am so happy to be making these images, and profiling these women, and for Gap to give me this chance to tell their stories. It's going to be a blast. I can't wait to share this project here.

All the Love in the Universe ~ Me

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