My name is Jessica Rix. I am a senior at Peoria High School and completed my Pursue the Passion Interview with an awesome professional photographer named Lewis Kemper. She also invited me to attend a special speaking engagement in Scottsdale, Arizona on February 28th, 2009. The link to the group hosting the event is http://www.digmeeting.com/

My interview:

1. How would you describe your job? I am a self employed photographer and photography educator

2. What kind of environment do you experience within your company and your job? I am a sole proprietor so mostly I work alone

3. What other departments depend on you to do their work and who do you depend on? This is not really applicable to my work situation. As a sole proprietor I am the book keeper, the production, IT, shipping, design and marketing departments

4. What are you most proud about your work? While I love the creative aspect of making images I think I am most proud of teaching and helping others fulfill their creative desires.

5. What educational background do you need for your job? I don’t think you need any more than experience to do my job but I do have a Bachelors of Fine Art from the George Washington University where I studies photography.

6. Have you ever worked for National Geographic? I have had image published in some National Geographic books and magazines but I have never had an assignment from them.

7. When did you realize that you wanted to become a professional photographer? In high school.

8. How long did it take to become a professional and to be known by so many people? It took about 6 years before I got my first big break that lead to a lot of recognition and that was when I first began writing for Outdoor Photographer magazine.

9. Do you have to supply your own equipment or do other supply it for you? I supply my own equipment, although in the last 5 years I have been sponsored by Canon and they assist me in getting new gear

10. How many times a year do you travel? Between photographing and teaching I am gone 4-5 months a year. So I would say at least 2 trips from 3-10 days a months.

11. What really inspires you to take photographs? My love for the outdoors and nature.

12. What type of photography do you prefer to take? I prefer landscape and wildlife photography.

13. Do other people pay for your traveling? Yes, 90% of the time.

14. What kind of skills do you need to become a photographer? You need to work hard, be persistent, be creative and be good at self promotion

15. Do you need a lot of dedication and inspiration to become successful at becoming a photographer? Yes! You will get a lot of rejections and you just have to keep working and trying your best to pursue your goals. You really need to love what you do to become successful.

Steven Wolff is a recent graduate of Collins College in Tempe, AZ. He studied Film and Visual FX in the bachelor’s degree program and graduated in February 2008. Steven went to Collins College and got to try everything, from shooting, editing, visual fx, and post production. “I really hung on to the visual fx and post production. Really good teachers and I pursued that path because I really liked it. I liked the way the work flow worked, what you had to do.”

He started working for the Visual FX company out of Santa Monica, CA called Hydraulx just weeks before graduation. Steven has worked on various projects at Hydraulx including The Incredible Hulk, X-Men Origins:Wolverine, AVP:Requiem, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (not yet released), and many more.

He soon found out “It’s not all ice cream and candy out there.” His job as a rotoscope/paint artist is really demanding at the end of the production phase of a movie, with serious deadlines and extremely meticulous work, his job hours go from standard eight-hour days to twelve to fifteen-hour days. Great advice Steven learned early on in college is, “You’re not gonna be visual fx superviser when you walk through the door, you’re gonna be the grunt, you’re not gonna make any money and you gotta apply yourself.” Steven goes on to say, “You have to be motivated but you have to be really laid back but also have to be a good artist.” “You’ve gotta be able to take crap. If somebody yells at you, you can’t get upset and leave. You know they aren’t mad at you, they’re just under a lot of pressure. You have to be able to handle pressure.”

Steven wasn’t an overly experienced rotoscope artist when he got the job, he had a lot of tracking and a lot of matte painting on his demo reel, Hyrdraulx realized he wouldn’t be the best at it but gave him the opportunity of a two week trial. Steven proved to be a dedicated candidate and improved one-hundred percent. “I was asking other artist, there was a lot of communication going on, if you’re just sitting there failing and you’re not getting the work done or not talking to anyone they’re going to let you go. On the other side of it, if you’re asking questions constantly, you’re going to be an annoyance. So you just have to find a happy medium and then show you’re motivated.”

In the visual fx industry, like most industries, the position you want to start out in is often far more ambitious than where you will actually start out. Even with a four-year degree from an accredited college you’re still fighting for just entry-level positions. “You’ll probably get an entry-level job as something else, like you want to be a character rigger you get an entry level as a modeler and then move over.” Pipelines, hierarchy ladders, differ from company to company as well. You might need to start out in an entry-level position at one company where they train you to work on a particular software crossover to another company where they pay you as that type of artist. “You gotta build your way up so maybe that requires jumping different companies to get more pay.”

As with most entertainment based industries, “It’s not what you know its who you know, that is most definitely the case especially in LA, I got the job at Hydraulx from knowing the right people and people knowing the right people. It’s not like I walked in, did an interview, and they hired me. No, I was referred, that’s how ninety percent of the industry is out there. Yes, you gotta have good work but most of it is who you know and if you can make those contacts, network, get people to look at your stuff, have them send out your stuff, make friends, you’re all set.” Networking is key in the entertainment industry, Steven started Collins College as a shy guy and eventually with assistance from peers and teachers built the confidence to land an awesome job in the pursuit of passion for the career he loves.

Josh Olson is an Oscar nominated screenplay writer for his work with the movie “A History of Violence.”  Josh recently moved out of a Hollywood apartment and into a secluded home with a patio that overlooks the Los Angeles skyline.  He is a self described late bloomer and a film snob.  

It’s not enough just to be a good writer.  I wish it was.  You have to have the right idea and it has to be the right place and all these things have to come together.  Because there are a zillion people out there who are ten times the writer I’ll ever be.  And they’re stuck in coffee shops at 8 am fighting for the good seat.

My breakthrough?  There was a couple.  The one that turned me into a professional writer was pretty depressing, at the time.  I’m over it now.  I had written a really good script and optioned it to some producers who ended up getting it set up with a bunch of cheeseballs who made it into a crappy, low budget monstrosity.  People were at the premiere laughing at how bad it was.  But that got me into a world where I was writing dumb, straight to video action movies for a few years.  That made me a living, not a great living, but a decent living.  

My plan had always been to get into something commercial.  A lot of people don’t. They try to write their deep dark passion project and sell that.  Unfortunately, that’s almost impossible to do.  They let you do that project when you’re inside, not from the outside.  

I literally got to the point where I was thinking, “If this script doesn’t sell, I have to stop. I can’t do anymore.  I’ve hit the great concept.  I’ve got the ability.  I’ve got an agent who’s not the biggest in town, but more than respectable enough to sell a script.  If that combination doesn’t work, then this is not for me.”  It reminds me of these idiots who are broke on their ass and they’re saying “Well, this script (mocking a bum holding a script like the Ten Commandments), I’m going to sell this script!”  I don’t know what I would have done if things wouldn’t have worked out.  Maybe drive around the country interviewing people about their passion.   

I was down to less than $200 in the bank when Paramount bought my script for life altering sums of money.  After years of struggling, it was so strange, because all of a sudden the game plan was to sell a big commercial script and then start writing movies that really matter to you.  And that happened almost instantly.  It took forever to get in the door, but once I got in the door, it was doing what I wanted to do. 

Unfortunately, that film Paramount bought got stuck in development and never got made. But it led directly to my very first studio assignment which was A History of Violence.  Which was a ridiculous experience.  Every step of that was ridiculous.  You could have stopped at any point after the film got made and I would have been happy.  It could not have gone better…although, I could have won.  I could have beat Brokeback Mountain .  That would have been better (Laughs).   

I had gotten the job by being brought in to pitch, and was told by the executive, “We really just want to get to know you.  You’re not going to get the job.  We’re talking to four or five really big writers, but I want you to come in and if you’re impressive we can get you back in for something else.”  I took that as a license to pitch the story that I wanted to tell.  That’s a very valuable lesson.  

You have to trust that you’re a valid audience.  If I can make myself happy, there’s enough people out there that are like me, or perceive things the way I do that I will entertain them.  You can’t sit and second guess that.  You can’t wonder about whether they’re going to like it.  I’ve always found the stuff I’m happiest with is the stuff that people like the most.  When I’m trying to please someone, or trying to figure out what somebody wants, or trying to figure out what an audience wants, it doesn’t work.  I sit down and entertain myself.  That’s a hard thing to do.  It’s a hard thing to remember.  You’re always aware that you need to write a hit, and make this guy happy, and make that guy happy.  

I had written this awful thriller movie for a guy, and I had this car chase in the script.  You’d never seen a car chase like this in a film.  It was an angle that had never been done.  I put this in the script and then later asked myself why I put it in.  When I saw the film the director didn’t use it.  He didn’t quite understand it.  So I took it out of that script and put it into the one Paramount bought.  It was actually one of their favorite things.  There’s a really important lesson there.  

I don’t know if a formal education is the answer for everyone, but you have to have an education.  I do believe that you have to find people who help you come across that in yourself.  I believe in mentors.  Eventually, I’d love to be good enough to be one.  Right now I’d probably just lead people down the wrong paths (Laughs).  

I’d tell the 18 year old Josh that it is way better to be a late bloomer.  There’s the people who peaked in high school, and there’s the people who figured it out later.  I remember sitting in a bar in England for the British Academy Awards, talking about the joys of being a late bloomer with George Clooney over drinks.  You know, I wasn’t the captain of the high school football team, but that’s alright.  The answer is not to get everything you want right off the bat.  It’s all a learning experience.  Don’t sweat it so much.  Life is long.  The great thing about having things working out later as opposed to sooner is that you appreciate what you have. 

This has been a Pursue the Passion interview.  Visit www.pursuethepassion.com for over 200 interviews with people passionate about their work, just like Josh.  And if you need a keynote speaker on careers, those Pursue the Passion guys aren’t a bad call.