Personal | 30 Day Photography Challenge | Inspirational Person

Camera used: iPhone 4S
Program used:  Instagram
Filter used:  Hudson

Day 9: Inspiring Person. It goes without saying to most people that know me that the most inspiring person in my life was my Dad.  He died from cancer in 2006 and not a day goes by that I don’t think of him.  My Mom and brother died when I was 13 and ever since my Dad and I were a team.  He was my best friend.  Beyond that though, he was an amazing human being.  It was very rare that I would ever hear him speak ill of someone and it was ever rarer that he would ever dislike someone without giving them a chance.  He had the most amazing sense of humor.  He also was a great listener.  He never stopped being curious about the world.  Nature inspired him more than anything else.  He had a big heart and would do anything for those he loved and considered friends his family.  I hope that someday I am half the man my father was.

I know it’s such an old, worn out tale in the photography world. I became a photographer because my Daddy put a camera in my hands when I was still in diapers and that’s why I have 30 years of experience when I am 30 years old. However in my case, it’s true.  Well save for that rot about the diapers and 30 years of experience thing LOL.  When I was a kid, I was most definitely Daddy’s little girl.  He taught me so much about the world and one piece of that was how to view it through a viewfinder.  When I quit my job to take care of him in his last months of life, I sat back and looked at the big picture.  He worked his entire life in a job he happened to do well, but hated.  I was in the same rut.  I was good at my job, so good that they were decidedly NOT happy when I quit but love trumps work, every.single.day.  I had a choice to make.  Do I go back to the job I did well but hated or did I learn from my father’s death and take a chance to make a living doing something I loved.  His dying gift to me was the inspiration to reach for the stars.

Who inspires you?