Hey there. Welcome to my first attempt at a blog.
I’m 34 and a keen photographer. The journey I have taken to get to my decision to become a professional photographer has been a long and varied one. I never thought for a second when I was back at school studying photography for my GCSE’s that I would one day be contemplating taking it up as a business. I always figured I would be an engineer or some other ‘normal’ professional. It has only been in the past four years that I have considered and experienced things that have opened my mind up to having a creative job as a real world profession.
I was born in Derby, UK on October 11th 1976. I am the first son (of two) to my proud parents Selwyn and Linda Rushby. I went to Hilton Primary school and then on to John Port secondary school. I went to college at Mackworth Technical College and studied Engineering and when I gained my BTEC National Diploma, I was hired by Rolls Royce as an apprentice to study engineering further and work on nuclear submarines which belonged to the UK Naval Fleet.
My engineering career didn’t last long as I was doing a short term job in the computing department of the company when they decided to outsource the IT department to the American IT giant, Electronic Data Systems (EDS), so I went from working for an engineering company to an IT company, not exactly where I had planned to be heading in life.
After what seemed like an eternity of being stuck behind a desk, I had the opportunity to take a role working alongside the British Armed Forces based in Basrah, South East Iraq. I spent a total of four years on this contract, working my way up from help desk analyst to being a key member of the senior deployment and support team. During my time in Iraq I had lots of spare time to study and ponder on what my future may have in store for me. I took to reading many books on photography and visited various forums and eventually decided that I was to get back into photography.
In March 2006, I purchased a Canon 5D from the Focus on Imaging photography expo in Birmingham UK and then never looked back. More and more research showed me that I could take good pictures and that I like to interact with people. Towards the end of 2006 I decided that I wanted to become a wedding and portrait photographer when I left EDS after my contract in Iraq was over.
Like many aspects in my life, it didn’t go to plan. I left the Middle East and decided that I was going to follow another passion for a short while. Kitesurfing. I moved to Cabarete in the Domincan Republic and trained to be an instructor. I had been here on holiday before, loved the town, made a few friends and decided that I was going to work a season there just to blow off some steam after four long years in the desert. Well, six months turned into eighteen months and here I am, still in Cabarete. I didn’t do much instructing, just spent my time having fun, kiting and partying……. alot!
Time has come for me to make a move as it were and to commit to doing something with my life. I am hoping that this blog will give me some accountability for my progress to becoming a professional photographer and it will also give others the chance to follow along the way and see what problems and pitfalls I come up against and how I over come them. I will also be including lots of photo’s taken during the closing months of my traveling adventures.
It’s been a long journey to get here and this is only just the beginning……….
Hope you enjoy following this blog, and I hope I can commit to 2-3 good posts each week to keep it fresh and full of ideas.
Peace, Lee
