Reinvention

Last month I photographed a project for San Francisco Magazine on "Reinvention."  The article was about eighteen people who have recently reinvented themselves, most of them going from a more traditional career to something they are far more passionate about.  It was a great project to work on and I met a lot of interesting people over the four days of shooting.

I thought it was appropriate when I got called to shoot this project;  I did my own reinvention not long ago.  Before I was a photographer I was a network engineer in the Silicon Valley for six years after studying Computer Science in college.  In a long and not terribly interesting story I won't bore you with here, I left my job and randomly ended up studying photography in Victoria British Columbia.  In 2005 I moved back to the Bay Area and was foolish enough to think I could be a professional photographer.

It's hard to believe, but I've  been a photographer as long I was an engineer.  Still to this day I tend to consider myself a tech geek more than a creative type.  It took a long time before I could actually call myself a photographer;  If someone asked what I did for a living I would say something like "Well, I used to be an engineer... but now I'm giving photography try."  As if the technical background would somehow justify it if they really hated my work.  Now, if anyone asks, I say I'm a photographer... but there's always a little thought in my head about my tech background making me wonder what the hell I'm doing posing as a photographer.

Check out the article in the June issue of San Francisco Magazine.  The article isn't on their website yet, but here is a PDF copy: Reinvention

Who else out there has reinvented themselves?  Leave a comment if you've got a story.