As you may have noticed, I’ve been away for some time. Last year I had to make a decision that would greatly affect my profession as a photographer, family, and future. It was a decision that took many months to decide on and one that was terribly hard to make. I fell out of love of photography, not the process of capturing memories but the business of photography, and really didn’t put much effort in working as in the past years. This made things difficult for me and put a tremendous amount of pressure on my family.
So last year, September, I applied for a trade position with the Canadian Armed Forces. I have always been interested in a career with the CF and the Profession of Arms, and felt it was time to look at a sustainable career with great benefits, pension and travel. I wanted to learn something new, support my family as well as do something that allowed me to continue with photography, not full time but on the side. Don’t get me wrong, I still love photography and photographing people, it’s just that I do not want to depend on photography as a main source of income any more.
My application went well, scored very high on the Aptitude Test, qualified myself for any trade in the CF and as an added bonus, pre qualified for Officer training later in my career if desired. Yay for me. My trade of choice was a big decision, it must be something I am interested in, something I would want and could do for a long time as well as something that the skills would be highly transferable and demanded within the civilian workforce if things changed later in our future. In the end I chose Hull Technician as it was a high sought after trade, one that hired only a few and the best and was also a closed trade. Stupid idea but it was what I wanted and I would only go for what I want since this is a life long career. After 10 months of waiting, I got the call and to my surprise, I was offered a contract and had 2 weeks to pack and head to Quebec for 3 months of basic training….
to be continued…..
Martin Jardine Photography - Blog 