Funny thing is- I never really wanted to be a photographer. Not until high school, really.
The first memory I have when I think back to things I wanted to be when I grew up is a zookeeper! I was most definitely a horse girl, tracing them out of books, playing with figurines, and even owning some up at my grandparents. I guess somewhere along the way I fell in love with all wildlife and wanted to take care of either zebras (those are basically horses..right?), elephants, or giraffes. I spent lots of time watching Animal Planet and let’s be real, Bindi Irwin was living the DREAM.
Something about being a teacher was also so incredibly appealing to me. We always played school when we went to my grandma’s house, and I had to be the teacher just about every time. Specifically teaching art class seemed so fun because who doesn’t want to spend the day coloring or making little pots and dishes out of clay? This was actually my major in college for awhile, but after waiting tables for a few years, I did not want to clean up after kids that weren’t my own, and found the whole idea exhausting.
I also have SO many memories of sitting on the floor in my room with all different kinds of Play-Doh, mimicking whoever was cooking or baking on Food Network in front of me. Baking has always been a hobby of mine, so being a pastry chef seemed like a no brainer. I once got to meet Bronwen Weber, a winner on Food Network Challenge at her bakery here in Dallas, and it was honestly a pretty cool experience! I had a sketch book full of wedding cakes that I’d draw and decorate with colored pencils to pass the time. To this day, I still really enjoy baking, but the fact that I’m not a perfectionist is a bit of an issue for that profession, I think.
After escaping the early childhood education major in college, I ended up turning towards interior design. HGTV was kind of my mom and I’s thing, and I figured why not try it? It sounded fun, I really enjoy home decor and design, so it seemed like a great fit. You’d think that having all art classes as your basics would be such a cool thing, but when you’re bad at math and can’t draw to save your life, well.. it kind of ends in disaster.
Somewhere along the line, I found myself working at the Fort Worth Zoo in the stingray exhibit. I was doing freelance photography part time, and saw the position opening for a SeaTouch photographer. It seemed fascinating- getting to stand in a pool full of stingrays and sharks, photographing guests interacting with them. And it was so much fun. I developed this respect and love for marine life, and had seriously considered going into marine biology for some time. I was offered a zookeeper position, working with the stingrays, with literally no schooling whatsoever (childhood dream fulfilled, hello?!). But unfortunately with marine life at zoos, you primarily deal with water science- I wanted to spend my time with the animals instead, so it just wasn’t a great fit.
Eventually the story ends with me changing my major to photojournalism, never taking a single class for it, and diving head first into full time photography shortly after the pandemic. Although unconventional, I love the way it happened. It just took me a little while to get here.
