Laura Bergman

I became a volunteer EMT and firefighter at the age of 18.  and was extremely active in the fire department.  I attended everything that I could, meetings, drills, classes and, of course calls, lots of calls.  I even spent my free time at the firehouse having a coffee or beer with the guys.  I always had something to do, and people to do it with, even when sometimes I didn’t want to.  When I moved out of the fire district I didn’t know what to do with myself.  I had way too much time on my hands.  I tried a few different activities to fill my days.  I took a previous interest in cycling a step further and began to train for organized rides.  I participated in several century bike rides, triathlons and marathons as both an athlete and as a volunteer.  When an injury put me on the sidelines I had a ton of free time once again. 

That’s when my interest in photography reared its ugly (or should I say beautiful) head.  I’ve always had a small curiosity in photography, but I never took it anywhere.  Lack of time, money and talent were always an obstacle.  Now I could no longer use time as an excuse so I scraped up what little money that I could get together and bought a used DSLR on eBay.  Then my only obstacle was talent.  I figured that I might be able to get some useful information at a local camera club.  I became the luckiest person in the world when I joined the Huntington Camera Club.  I had no idea what I was getting into.  At first, when I saw the work of the other members I was intimidated.  Their talent was breathtaking, but instead of dismissing me and my lack of expertise these experienced, professional photographers took me under their wings.  I was assigned a mentor who worked with me so patiently for hours at her kitchen table, but honestly I could show my work to any member of the club and get kind, useful suggestions and advice.  I attended every meeting and took notes, even when the presenter was talking way above my head, slowly I became better.

 A few years later I decided to take my interest to the next level when a member of the club started taking me out on some of his real estate photography jobs.  I immediately knew that this is what I wanted to do.  I went out, bought tons of equipment, some of which I didn’t know how to use.  I spent tons of money that I really couldn’t spare, and spent all of my free time reading articles, taking classes and going out on jobs with my friend.  My skills improved greatly in only a few months and soon I was ready to go out on my own.  Scared and intimidated I went out on my first job and the pictures came out beautifully.  It gave me the confidence to keep going.  In no time I had enough work to retire from my day job and become an architectural and real estate photographer full time.  I never looked back.