As a kid I dreamed about doing three things for a living – aside from been a fighter pilot, which I knew I could never do due to not having 20/20 vision: Photography, Music, and Medicine.

Almost twenty years ago I was in college with the intent of going to school to be a nurse and then a nurse practitioner, or physicians assistant. I didn’t have the discipline to do any of it at that point though, and also kind of fell into doing photography professionally about that same time.

I took it and ran with it, and ended up making photography my life after moving to Atlanta in 2001 to pursue a career as a commercial photographer.

I’ve worked exceedingly hard at it since then, and will continue to do so. The past couple of years have been life changing to me in regards to how I feel about so many things, though.

Marriage has been awesome, and it will change how you view life. It has made me question whether I want to continue to do what is required to be in commercial photography full-time – instead of being able to go hiking and other fun things like that with my wife on the weekends. It’s seen as kind of a badge of honor to miss out on spending time with your wife and kids these days in order to be in a business like commercial photography. I don’t see that as something to be proud of though.

One of my most influential instructors ever, Robert Rostick, told me the other day, “My definition of success isn’t how much money I have in the bank, it’s having a wife and kids that don’t hate me.”

Isn’t that an awesome and admirable mindset?

My pastor, Andy Stanley, also says, “never decide what you want to do before you decide who you want to be.”

Think about that…

Then, as if things like I mentioned above wasn’t weighing on me enough, my parents, and my dad in particular, got really sick last year. To the point that he spent 3 1/2 months in the hospital, and almost died a few times.

It was very scary and frustrating for my family and me. It also became blatantly obvious to me that there is a lack of people in the medical field that know how to communicate well. One person though – really stood out to me and has ended up being an inspiration for me. A nurse practitioner, and one of my dads providers, Luci Strickland, was an excellent communicator and made a world a difference to me, my dad, and my family in general during that time.

My experience with her, and the nagging feeling I started having in my heart due to it. The feeling that maybe I could do far more good for others as a nurse than I ever can as a photographer ended up eating at me pretty good.

I alluded to it in this post I wrote called “Sea Change” a little over a year ago.

I quietly enrolled in school soon after that, telling very few people out of fear that people may think I had gotten out of photography all together or that I’d didn’t have time for photography anymore.

YES. I definitely am still doing photography, I’m just having to work it around my classes I take two days as week. I will be looking to do more corporate portrait work and corporate events as I get closer to entering a nursing program. I say that because that type of work is relatively stress free to me in comparison to some other commercial photography work I shoot.

Photography is still is very much my livelihood, and once I’m a nurse I still plan to pursue commercial photography. But I will get more selective with what jobs I take and shoot.

So, this past year I’ve been getting my science prerequisites out of the way. Going back to college at 40 isn’t exactly fun, especially when you start with classes as demanding as A&P 1, A&P 2, and Microbiology.

Taking Microbiology this summer definitely wasn’t fun, but I still managed to get an A on my final,  a B in the class, and and an A in the lab.

I’ve been learning some super cool stuff, and it’s been killing me feeling like I couldn’t be more open about what I’m doing, because I’m proud of it, and am excited to see where it may take my life – and photography.

It’s been scary too, though. Somewhat having to let go of something you’ve worked so hard at to pursue something else that you feel equally passionate about will mess with your mind.

When it’s all over with, God willing, I’ll will have done each of the the three things I dreamed of doing as a kid:

Photography: Check

Medicine: In Progress

Music: In Progress. (I’m currently a bedroom tenor sax, clarinet, and guitar player that has no desire to make a living at any of it, but I aspire to play sax well enough to be paid to play one day.)

If I can accomplish all this and still manage to be a good husband (and father when the time comes) I will have lived a pretty good life, and answered my calling in it as best I could.

So, that’s what has been going on in my life. It’s been pretty hectic and emotionally draining for me, but the light at the end of the tunnel is a bright one. Be happy for me, and do continue to send photography work my way. I need it and always appreciate the interest whether I take and/or get the job or not.

And please take no offense if you’re one of those I’ve taken a while to reply to in the past year or so, whether it be by phone, text, Instagram, or here on Facebook.

If you’re interested in hearing me talk more about this, I was recently interviewed for the Unmanageables podcast, created by a friend of mine. It includes his insight as well as that of Robert Rostick, who I’ve already mentioned above. What they have to say never fails to intrigue me due to the nuggets of gold found within it.

You can check it out here:

I decided to go ahead and share all this because it was getting to me feeling like I couldn’t be more open about what I’ve been up to. I don’t like fake people, and I felt like I was having to be – somewhat – myself by keeping it to myself for the most part as I’ve been doing.

Regarding the photo I’ve posted at the top of this post: It’s a self-portrait I shot last week to show that the nasty psoroiasis induced rash I had on my forehead for almost a year now seems to have finally cleared up. Have no idea what made it decide to go away all of a sudden, but it did, and I’m totally okay with that.