After several decades of a successful career, I let myself be a rookie again.
I started my career as a computer engineer but was never a proper geek type. For me, computer technology was always just a means to an end, and that gradually led me to the process and business management side. And I was successful at it. I worked for Microsoft as a business and people manager and a consultant for the world’s largest companies for a long time. I learned a ton of stuff and worked with some brilliant and fun people, but, as often happens, I started to feel the urge to change. If there’s one thing they teach you well in Microsoft, it is always to be willing to grow and take challenges, so I decided to start my own company and do things my way. But, to make things more “interesting,” I didn’t get into IT or even business consulting. Instead, I started a drone company as I have always wanted to get closer to aviation, my big passion and first love. I prepared as well as possible, collected all my energy, positive thoughts and ideas, and took a plunge.
And it didn’t work out! At least initially.
It took me several years to reach a point where everything seemed sustainable and looked like a small business. Small indeed, but a business nevertheless. And then came Covid.
Like for everyone, things slowed to a crawl. At some point, I was very stressed and close to giving up. Starting a business, you must accept the possibility of failure, but being that close to that point is a very difficult place to be.
Photography has been one of my on-and-off hobbies since university. I started doing more of it to escape the Covid doldrums, but something unexpected happened. I realized how much I enjoyed this kind of work. I finally admitted to myself that I like colors, tones and shapes as much as numbers and procedures. Probably even more. I wanted to know what could happen if I dedicated myself to a creative profession. Could I be as successful as with engineering and management?
Of course, I had these thoughts many times before, but for the first time, I decided to do something about it. To stop hiding behind the “it’s too late for me” wall and become a photographer.
I changed my career once, but that change was more straightforward. Yes, I moved from a corporation to my own company and changed industries from IT to aviation. I had to learn new skills and, most of all, to get into an unfamiliar market, but I still based the move on what I knew I was good at.
With photography, I am still determining how good I can be. I did it as a hobby before, but primarily for myself. Very few people ever saw my old photos.
This web and the blog are a big part of that change. I know I still have a lot of photography skills to master, but most of all, I need to start showing my work to the world. I need to let myself be vulnerable and not be sure about what I’m doing and offering.
Even writing a blog is something I need to learn. I’ve done a lot of writing in my career, but that was about processes and technologies rather than myself and my emerging skills.
The blog will be about photography. More than this, it will be about the journey needed for someone in my situation to grow as a photographer and a person. I will share photography tips, lessons learned, and roads to success, but also talk about the problems, doubts, and things I needed to keep me going.
I started this blog primarily for myself, but by being open about disappointments and successes, I can also help others. I would be delighted if this blog can also help you in your journey to personal growth and success.
