the beginning

How does a creative career start? Every fellow creative has their moment when they decide to set off on this path. For my first newsletter, I would like to share mine with you. Let’s start at the beginning.

I was always a creative kid. Fortunate enough to go to an artsy school from kindergarten to Grade 8 (Waldorf School, for those in the know) I grew up painting and drawing almost every day. My grandmother bought me my first camera around the age of 12, and my mother gifted me a book on photojournalism for Christmas a couple of years later. Fast forward to my last year of high school when considering all possible subjects to pursue in post-secondary education, I thought that photography might be a fulfilling career path to venture down.

On a cold and rainy November morning I waited in line with hundreds of other students outside OCAD University for hours, in the hopes of getting my photography “portfolio” (what I had assembled didn’t quite deserve the word, as I would soon find out) looked at before applying to university art programs. This was an assessment day thrown by OCAD where representatives from universities and colleges from around the country were present to give feedback to hopeful students on their current body of work before the formal application process began.

My top choice was Ryerson (now TMU) as they had a photography degree program, which at the time was the only one of its kind in the country. I had toured the campus, seen their dark room (so cool), and read through the various pamphlets. My heart was set. I wanted a degree, and I wanted to study photography.?

I finally got to the table where a professor from Ryerson was seated. With freezing hands and a nervous heart, I handed over my case, containing a few printed photos loosely tucked in sleeves. He spent all of 2.3 seconds flipping through the pages, closed the book, and informed me I had zero chance of getting into the program.

Feeling shocked and disheartened, I tried again and got in line for the OCAD desk. OCAD was my backup plan. Eventually, I sat down and handed over my book, and almost immediately I received a similar firm dismal and got up to leave just as quickly.?

I called my mother as I cried in a back hallway, lost in the throngs of artists I thought to be more talented than myself and feeling like my dreams were crushed. She calmed me down, probably said something along the lines of “Don’t give up yet”, and suggested I get my portfolio looked at by the Sheridan photography program. I hadn’t looked into Sheridan at all because (at the time) it was a college diploma program. This wasn’t part of the ideal plan. However, my mother had gone to Sheridan after completing her kinesiology degree at Western, specializing in athletic therapy, and had amazing things to say about the education there.

I took her advice and waited in line to speak to someone from the Sheridan. This is a good time in this story to add the important context that this was all happening in the pre-Internet Education Era. At present you can simply YouTube thousands of videos on How to Create a Photography Portfolio, but back in my day, this was not yet a thing.

With a red face, I sat down in front of Rafael Goldchain, the head of the Applied Photography program. He took his time and looked at my photos. He was direct but kind and gave me proper constructive feedback. Pointers on what was working in the portrait series, tips on how to improve the overall presentation of my book to make it look more professional, and which unnecessary weak shots to cut, to make the whole thing cohesive and tell more of a story.?

Cut to a few months later. I applied his feedback, applied to Sheridan, and was accepted. I was so excited and proud of myself. I started in the following year's program - despite strongly voiced hesitation from my father, who shared his concerns about how I would make a living from a photography career, to which I responded that that was a bit ironic as he was the one who put me in an artsy school to begin with, so what did he expect really?

I loved studying at Sheridan for the duration of my program. It was hard work, but there was a particular joy in it - in shooting almost every day, coming up with solutions and interpretations of assignments, and producing so much work every week. It felt like a privilege to be creative every day.?

When I look back over my career and find the moment when two roads emerged with a decision to be made of which to take, I remember that assessment day and I hold this one moment dear.?

Five minutes taken by an educator who was passionate about the craft of photography and cared about his students, even potential ones, changed my career trajectory.

Would I have ended up in marketing if I hadn’t studied photography? Who knows. The tale of the jump between photography and marketing is for another newsletter, but I’ll leave you with this - you never know who you will have an impact on when you give them five minutes of your time to share your expertise.

I know that has been said before by many people, but I’d like to take a moment here to share my deep gratitude for someone who did it for me.?

I believe in the power of conversations. To connect, to learn, to continuously improve one’s craft in the pursuit of creativity.

My aim is for those looking to channel their creativity into their career to come here and discover how they can progress to reach the next level.

Whether you’re just starting out, at middle levels or senior leadership, we all have something to share and something to learn.