I love Nicole's story because her journey is filled with obstacles, but also growth. She's a creative person - explorer, writer, photographer, taxidermist, entrepreneurial and a new mom. She's a great example of what happens when you learn a new skill. Here is her story and her photography.
I have always been very independent in all aspects including financially. I've worked full time and had an apartment since I was 16 years old. With only having a grade ten education, I have had to work more hours due to making lower hourly wages than that of someone with post-secondary education. This resulted in working seven days a week and 12-14 hour days for months at a time to provide a lifestyle that I wanted.
Working as a guide, I was able to access territory that the public did not get to visit as frequently as I did, making for some great landscape shots.
My point and shoot camera would be strapped to my side as I traveled through the rugged wilderness of Canada's western provinces for work. Once I bought my truck (to this day it's still the same truck I drive) I could drive to and from the coast, capturing all the different terrain in between.
One of my seasonal positions was in an elite private hunting camp that wealthy businessmen would visit for their vacations. Always interested in my travels, I would show them photographs of the different areas I had been that year and would receive lots of compliments on my composition.
To my surprise, they gifted me my first professional DSLR Nikon camera to help capture my journey.
It was important to me to learn the camera and do something successful with it to show them my gratitude for believing in me. I just couldn't figure a way as a beginner to make a profit with landscape photography.
I was also pursuing writing and the camera helped get my articles published as I now had adequate photo support to go with it.
I was still stumped on how to pursue photography as a career so I basically ruled it out for that time and passionately continued it as a hobby.
When I met my partner, Chris, he encouraged me to work less so that I could spend more time with my camera and writing and doing the things he knew I loved. He even offered to support me so that I could pursue these avenues. The independent side of me never even toyed with the idea. Our relationship had barely begun so it wasn't something I was comfortable doing.
Well not long after I was laid off from my ten-year position after relocating to Ontario permanently. I found myself working in my local bar, roofing in the middle of winter and paying for an apartment in the middle of nowhere with a very crazy landlord. Our relationship was still going strong and so was Chris' persistence with me to move in with him.
He still pushed me to do the things I loved and worry about money later. So I did.
I started a taxidermy business and invested with him in rental properties which we spent a lot of time renovating and then managing. Soon after that (a little too soon), we found out I was pregnant. I had known nothing but working my whole life and I was suddenly forced to stop. This was extremely hard for me.
I had no choice but to slow down and reinvent my career, my lifestyle and myself.
By the time our daughter was about 6 months old, I hadn't touched my camera in years.
I also had never gone through the thousands of photos I had taken during my years of traveling. I started to put together some of my favourites and stumbled upon a photo contest site. I entered some of my images and actually began to place in the top 50, 20 and 10 percent of the contests that sometimes had over 20,000 entries.
A long lost spark ignited in me.
I realized that now it was possible to pursue this again and there was a whole avenue of photography I had never considered for an income; portrait photography.
Browsing online, I found Mat's classes, offered in Trenton, and they were just about to begin. I thought it would be a great excuse to get out of the house and a way to get back to what I was passionate about. The combination of his course and some practice on my own time really showed an improvement - just from the beginning of the class to the end. I have invested in a new full-frame camera, a portrait lens as well as some beginner studio equipment.
I am so grateful to Mat who is still a huge mentor to me. I will forever be grateful to my partner Chris, for supporting me and pushing me to pursue the things that make me happy. I am also thankful for fate. Or whatever you want to call it.
Life made me slow down and look inward.
Because of this, I am able to capture precious memories of my family and hopefully one day - capture those memories for other families.