Future

I get asked a lot of questions about my future. It’s always really difficult to answer this question because I believe there are so many different directions.

It’s a daunting question to say the least. I have one more year of college. Have I thought about the future? Yes, it’s hard not to. I guess there are so many jobs and positions I would like to have and some of them are in slightly different fields than others. While they’re all related to one another through photography or film, the type of work I could be doing would be different. And that’s something that is super exciting.

One of the options (and the easiest to explain) is graduate school. For me, this is one of the ways I would potentially be able to get back to Australia, a place that I have grown to love. There are some universities in Brisbane that have peaked my interest as far as what degree I would graduate with and what my future options could be. It would be a way to get back to a country I fell in love with and work in for some years to come. Los Angeles is on the radar as well, because, well, Hollywood. After living in Los Angeles for over about five weeks, I have grown to love it. Biking down to Venice and Santa Monica and seeing the commotion is exciting.

Now, it’s entirely possible that I won’t do graduate school (or if I do, these will still be potential jobs). I’ll just rattle through them real quickly. I would love to: work in social media as a photographer/filmmaker/curator, film commercials, own a photography studio, do freelance photography contract work, make small scale documentaries, make large scale documentaries, and/or travel documentaries and photography.

I include the ‘and/or’ part because it is very possible that I will do more than one job at a time to make a living. Perhaps I will have a job in social media but also do freelance photography gigs with models and companies and also produce my own content for weddings. It seems that I might scrape together money from multiple jobs and I think that’s a good way to go. I know I get bored doing the same thing over and over, so having a few different jobs wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, as long as I can learn to manage it.

Finally, documentary filmmaking, in all aspects. Small scale docos that target a specific cause or purpose have caught my attention. Bringing awareness is key in today’s world, and the best way to do this is through lengthy documentaries. On a larger scale, working for BBC or National Geographic as a photographer and filmmaking is leading the race for my dream job. There was a time when I was very into Hollywood filmmaking (don’t get me wrong, if I can work for Marvel, I’m set) but my passion has switched after watching BBC’s series Africa and Planet Earth II. During Africa, I found myself stunned at some of the shots that these photographers were able to pull off. It was utterly beautiful. It got me very much into pursuing this as a potential career, long-term.

Finally, travel photography and filmmaking. I have the travel bug in bad form. Since April of 2017, I have not stayed in the same place for more than 3 months at a time. It’s been incredible. I traveled to many different parts along the southern hemisphere during 2017 and swapped coasts in the US in 2018. And after LA, I’ll be back in Boston until I come back out West for a bit before going to Buffalo. It’s crazy. There are ways to get paid to travel, and I will definitely search those opportunities extensively. I love traveling. It’s become a part of me.

And it’s even sweeter if I can get paid.

 

Next blog: frequent, fun, and fulfilling.