Passion Times Two

Hobby versus career, how does one know? Did you ever ask yourself that question? This has come up often in my mind over the years as I've contemplated various career paths. It's important to me to be doing something that I enjoy; and as I get older, it is equally as important to be doing something meaningful for people. Photography has always been a passion, and after enjoying landscape and nature photography as a hobby for years, my kids were born and shifted my interest to portrait photography. They made me realize how important it was to capture our loved ones in portraits. Thus...the inception of Jean Wozniak Photography.

As life would have it, after 16 years in a full-time marketing position at a civil engineering firm, I was laid off. My photography business had been building along-side my day job, and as my manager's words were unfolding about my layoff I remember thinking, "this is it...my chance to launch my business full time." And that's exactly what I did, enjoying the past eight years as a full-time portrait photographer. 

But wait! I really enjoyed and missed the design portion of my job. Luckily, my business needed marketing material, providing the initial outlet I needed. Various people and organizations also needed these materials and I happily offered to help them graphically with their needs. This included several book and policy manual design projects that have kept me busy over a number of years.

It wasn't until two years ago, though, when I accepted a position with the Professional Photographers Association of New England that I realized how much fun I was having with design. The position started as a newsletter editor but quickly transformed to a publications editor as their newsletter converted to a full magazine. What fun, exploring new styles, new designs, new layouts, developing and researching new content, etc.! For me, it was the perfect compliment to photography. Passion times two! 

Both my photography services and design services developed from two important things: 1) a desire to help others fulfull a need, and 2) a desire to visually create something meaningful whether to strengthen a memory or provide insight. Why did I share this story? To inspire others to find meaning and purpose in what makes them happy. Let life unfold, always keep an open mind and your path will take you to pleasant places. May you have the good fortune of finding passion times two!


Graphic design samples are now housed at https://jeanwozniak6.wixsite.com/mysite.