Passing On What Can Not Be Taught
I remember Uncle Jim being a real funny guy. He was my mother’s only brother and since my Daddy was an only child subsequently my only uncle. We would meet up every few years because he lived far far away in Texas and the rest of us had stayed closer together in North Carolina and Virgina.
Uncle Jim was a photographer and he and my Aunt Carolyn had started a studio in Tyler, Texas with a lab which kept them both busy most of the time. They would drive into the mountain house with their Winnebago and hang out for a week or two in the summertime.
Uncle jim always smelled of Marlboro cigarettes and was a real character. He was one of those guys that were larger than life, eccentric and everyone wanted to be around him. He would always ask me silly questions that made me laugh and each time I saw him I always fell for his funny jokes and looked forward to spending time with him.
When mother was killed he would send me pictures of his sister and each one of these photographs were little treasures to me. I yearned to hear stories of how my mother had saved a kitten while in middle school or the mischief that she and my uncle would find themselves in as young children. I learned about who my mother was and what she had been like through his eyes. That is a gift that I can never really ever thank him enough for.
When Brian and I moved to Texas I was a senior in college with aspirations of becoming an interior designer or working with handicapped children. I had gotten accepted to and had attended The Savannah College of Art and Design and was only a year away from a degree in interiors when we moved to Texas. Disillusioned with the credit transfers and what I really should say was the lack there of, lol; I changed majors to avoid having to redo a whole lot of art classes that I had already paid for and made A’s in. This left me basically starting at ground level and where I could be launched really to anywhere with class choices. I decided to go Pre-Law and ended up with a BS in Psychology. Uncle Jim and Aunt Carolyn made sure Brian and I had an invitation to their house and it was in those early years of our marriage that Brian was exposed to Photoshop and I to photography.
When little miss Victoria Ann came along we presented her to Uncle Jim to be photographed and it was during that shoot that I think Uncle Jim had the idea that I should pursue a career in photography. By the time she was 6 months old I had my first and only lesson in photography with him. Consequently, all those years of cigarettes had taken a toll on his health and shortly thereafter he faced a spiral of health issues that eventually led to his early death. The film in my camera remained untouched for a few months. I wasn’t particularly fond of the idea of being a photographer because I had my eyes set on law and kicking people’s you know what’s! In addition, becoming a photographer did not appear to be all that glamorous and ya’ll know I do like GLAMOROUS! Like with most things in life though that are God winks, things always fall right into the places they were meant to. One day I developed that roll of film and within a few days I was asked to be the cover of a local magazine, which folks just happened to be enough fame to turn my head and make me consider the career. I am glad it did.
Like Uncle Jim, I have within my own design cultivated my own craft and brought the Art into a seemingly technical craft. I have even figured out a way to be in the spotlight which feeds my need to be seen and a part of the scene if you know what I mean! Then there’s the real behind the scene satisfaction of being able to capture a moment for a family, being blessed enough to be able to gift a lasting portrait to a family and in the end having been a part of all that is left of a family through pictures. I LOVE what I do and I hope everybody gets to love what they do as much. I secretly know though that the real gift Uncle Jim gave me was the passion to give. He saw something creative in me and he pushed just hard enough to get me to see it. All it took was a cover of a magazine. Uncle Jim used to say “you have the artist eye… that can’t be taught….” He was willing to share what he loved and in doing so directly altered my entire life’s course. There’s a magic to creating… and it’s amazing.
My now little miss is 15 years old and she has been at the very heart of my inspiration. I have learned how to shoot babies through her and how to negotiate with toddlers through her and she herself has been in countless ads and covers over the years. She asked a few months ago to join the team and shoot beside me and when the client actually chose her work as part of her collection her confidence soared. I found myself saying to her the same words that had been spoken to me so many years ago… words that I hold dear to my own heart because the belief in me was with him when I could not see it for myself. “you have the artist eye… that can’t be taught….” As it goes with parenting we have many opportunities to see what our children are capable of even before they themselves come to recognize it as a talent. The wise parent fosters the greatness and history continues to prove that a child encouraged is a child that is successful. She doesn’t like all the glitz and glam that I do and, like her father is not interested in the fame of it all. This is good because I have no desire to share my spotlight anyway! I am not going to sway her though if she decided to be a full time photographer once all her college is done. I might even try to talk her into a little writing or a little TV producing. She might even be savvy enough to manage even me! LOL Either way I am quite proud to see the third generation blossoming in a world of corporate ta ta…. it’s refreshing that there’s still a place for a family to stay in the business of something that is so very close to my heart!
Share what you love and the next generation will follow!
