back to tech

After 7 years of supporting the photo and video needs of my wonderful wife Karen and her social media campaigns, I’ve decided it is time to re-enter the corporate workforce. I’m heading back to my roots in tech (aka, I’m a nerd) and will be pursuing front-end developer roles.

There are many reasons inspiring this change:

1) Karen’s social media work is essentially on auto-pilot. We have a great support system + equipment to create both casual and professional content. Karen’s technical knowledge of lighting and composition is amazing, and aside from physically putting heavy gear into place, she does it all. I’m so proud to witness and be a small part of what she’s accomplished.

2) Our daughter Dove is getting older and is part of the local school system. I do not need to be around to care for her like we did during her earlier years. Much of my day is now waiting around for what Karen wants to create.

3) I’m in my early 30’s and I zoomed out to my 40’s – what legacy do I want to look back on? What ‘what if’ questions do I want to avoid now that I have my health and my energy? What potential do I want to capitalize on? How do I want my daughter to see her father when she is a teenager?

The most intellectually enriching years of my life were spent at LinkedIn, working with some of the smartest people I have the pleasure of calling friends. I reflect on those years fondly. The atmosphere of hustle, intelligence and building something that truly changed people’s lives for the better - I want to experience that again while I still can.

I can’t really reflect fondly on all the freelance photo/video efforts outside of my work with Karen. I suppose I don’t have the resilience to keep taking rejection after rejection…and the value of a photo has certainly diminished considerably over the years. Why chase a dying craft in commercial photography?

Midjourney and other generative AI image models also scare the shit out of me. While I do think every photographer or videographer will not be unemployed due to AI, a lot of them will. And I’m not in that rarified space to be grandfathered into a cushy life with existing clientele no matter what technology looms out there. I’m good, but I’m not that good.

Code is what I love. From the early Xanga days of creating layouts to impress girl’s in my class to creating custom MySpace page up until now, the excitement of the intellectual pursuit has remained the same.

So here’s to switching gears after an amazing 7 years as an Instagram husband. Here’s to pursuing what the kid in me always enjoyed. And here’s to adding to my family’s future, in my own way.