A Photographer's Journey

When I started blogging on Snack Chat nearly two years ago, I said that in my "retirement," I wanted to develop my skills as a photographer -- a pretty dramatic departure from my life in Marketing at Frito-Lay.

So, I joined the local Plano Photography Club and started entering their monthly photo contests, thinking I would sweep everyone off their collective feet with my dazzling photos.  Boy was I wrong.  It turns out there are many excellent and dedicated photographers in the club, and for the first year I never even got an honorable mention, let alone won first place in the monthly contests. 

To improve my skills (and chances at a win), I bought a fancy Nikon digital camera, started taking classes at the local community college, participated in local workshops and read photo instructional books by great teachers like Joe McNally. 

It's been a fun journey, and shooting pictures has actually enhanced my vacations, visits with grandsons and how I look at everyday life.  I've learned that photography is as much a science as an art, and consistently shooting really great pictures requires an in-depth knowledge of lighting, composition and even how to pose people for the best shot.  I've also realized there is a big difference between pictures that are technically competent (post card pictures and studio portraits, for example) and shots that are beautifully artistic. 

Then, my big breakthrough came last month.  I won first place in the monthly Plano Photography Club contest with a photograph that I took of a lightning storm as it passed over our lake house (pictured above). Finally, my "retirement" project and new-found passion has paid off!

While I loved working at Frito-Lay for 30 years, I'm really energized by the challenge of reinventing myself in retirement  -- though, I think "retirement" is a terrible word.  This first-place prize gives me confidence that I'm heading in the right direction, and I look forward to continuing to have fun and make progress on my new journey.

- Dave

Comments

[Brandie VanOrder]

I too have recently decided to invest more time in photography, despite majoring in Political Science at Boise State University. I have a great picture that I would love to share with Frito-Lay: a ground squirrel eating a Sun Chip. (It sort of happened on accident, but it was funny!) If there is any way I could share it with you I would certainly love to; drop me an email if you'd like!

And of course, that picture of the lightning is amazing. One of my top goals in life is to take a decent picture of lightning.