Portraits of Grace: Minnow (1 of 2)

Portraits of Grace is a snapshot into the lives of the people at King's Cross Church. As "kingdom minded, kingdom people," we recognize God's work in every detail of our lives. We invite you to meet the people of our church.

I got into photography on a whim. For anyone who’s known me before 2007, they’d know I had zero interest in photography. I thought it would be cool to buy a DSLR and take some nice photos, but I didn’t know how much I’d love it.  I got deep into it and often dreamt what it would be like to be a photographer, but I never had the courage to really pursue it as a career. I was a project manager at an ad agency with a steady paycheck, and was trained by my wary parents to not do something out of the ordinary.

But in 2009, the financial crisis hit and a series of bad decisions and worse luck led to me being laid off along with most of the people at my agency.  After months of trying to decide what to do, I was suddenly free. Free of all the excuses that kept me from pursuing photography as a career. And free of the constraints to not give this all I had. I spent the next few months putting together a portfolio and started to tell people I was a photographer. It’s been over seven years since then and I’ve been blessed to do what I love every day.

I often think about the parable of the good and faithful servant when it comes to my work. The idea that each hour, day, and year that I’ve been able to do this has been entrusted to me by God. There’s nothing I’ve done to deserve it.  All I can do is steward these opportunities well, and be a good and faithful servant. That has made me want to do the best I can and pursue excellence in my work, but not let the work define who I am and what I’m worth.