How I Became a Professional Photographer and What I Saw Along the Way: Inspiration

In my previous post in this series, I wrote about the first photo I ever took. At age 7, it was literally the first time I pushed the shutter release on a camera. For the next several years, I would take pictures occasionally, probably in no greater numbers than my peers. I wasn’t particularly excited by photography, but just as for anyone else, it was an efficient way to document special occasions.

Towards the end of my freshman year at Brookline High School (just outside Boston), at age 14, I needed to decide what elective to take the following fall semester. On a whim, I chose Photography I, taught by Leon Kestenbaum (or Mr. K, as he was known). That September, one of our assignments (if I recall correctly) was to photograph a single subject in many different ways. Armed with one of my grandfather’s Konica Autoreflex T cameras, I set out onto the streets of Boston in search of inspiration. I came across the John Hancock Tower, the city’s tallest skyscraper, near Copley Square. I began to take dozens of photos from as many different angles as I could think of (mostly with a 28mm f3.5 lens). When looking over the contact sheets days later, one image in particular stood out as one I needed to print immediately:

This instantly became my favorite photo and I held it on that pedestal for at least a year. It inspired me to put 100% of my effort behind trying to create images that matched it, and I can trace it as the likely source of my passion for photography. Why was I so attached to that image? For one, it reminded me of a photo I might see hanging on someone’s wall. The fact that I could picture it placed somewhere other than in a personal photo album was a thrill. Also, it was sharp, and I mean tack sharp. Every little window pane leading all the way to the top of the building was easily discernible. I was a sucker for sharp photos back then, and that hasn’t changed to this day. Finally, I distinctly remember the interesting way the image gradually appeared in the darkroom development tray each time I printed it. Because any image in a dimly lit darkroom initially appears in a cloudy pattern as the developer washes over the paper, I was never really sure how much more intense the clouds in this photo might get as a result of the burning and dodging I had done at the enlarger. I loved, and was possibly in love with, this photo.

On a sad note, at some point later in high school my mother put a stack of heavy books on my sheets of John Hancock Tower negatives, and the one and only negative that got creased was my treasured image. It was probably for the best.

If you have a favorite image from when you started out in photography, please share a link in the comments section below!

Other posts in the series, How I Became a Professional Photographer and What I Saw Along the Way:

• My First Photo
• Connections, Connections, Connections
• The Entrepreneurial Spirit
• Applying to Photography School
• Digital Can’t Do That
• Brooklyn Children’s Museum
• Madison Square Garden
• First Concert