Moment of clarity.
Have you had that moment when everything around you is chaos and confusion and in the midst you have a moment of clarity?
For me that moment came 7 years ago. I was working as a nurse, at a major trauma centre, and everyday was a struggle. I wasn’t learning what I wanted, the work was physically, emotionally and mentally draining and I was tired.
One night I went out with my camera and took this photo. I didn’t know how it was going to turn out as I was still photographing with film. However I knew how I felt. I realised that being out taking photos gave me life, it energised me. Being in a stressful hospital environment de-energised me. I couldn’t keep doing the same thing and now I knew it.
I’m not sure how many weeks later but I resigned from my job. I even went into my boss’s office and showed her my basic portfolio. At the time another person resigned to focus on photography (I’m not sure what happened to him). I assumed I’d be able to get my old, less stressful, job back and focus more on photography. This I did.
I wish that I could say that at that point I started selling my work and becoming a successful photographer. However I am a nurse, I am creative about my work, passionate about photography, love learning and up until this point have made very few good business decisions. I will try to change this. I will try to appreciate my work and allow others to do the same. But for today I’m still a cliched work in progress.