|
|
|
  |
|
|||||
|
As a child, I always wanted to be an artist when I grew up. At about the age of 11 or 12, I earned my photography merit badge, in boy scouts. That was when I first became interested in photography. I decided I wanted a good camera, so I saved up my paper route money, and bought my first 35mm camera, a Ricoh KR-5. Soon I was spending most of my free time out taking pictures. My best friend, Maureen, and I were constantly off hiking in the woods taking pics of flowers, streams, rocks, the view from the cliffs, and each other. We went through a lot of film. At about that time, is when I decided I was going to be a professional photographer. I've never changed my mind. So the artist I became, uses film, light-sensitive papers, and a camera; instead of paints, a canvas, and brushes. The career choice... I graduated from
Seymour High School in 1985. I took 2 years off How I got the name Micholish, & the big move... While at college,
one of my best friends was a girl named Carmente Rodriguez. She is from
Puerto Rico. Four of us hung out all the time; Carmente, Tom, Tracie,
and myself. Carmente came up with "festive" & unique nicknames
for all of us. Mine was "Micholish". I decided then, that
was going to be my professional name, when I got my career going. Pensacola bound... While in Puerto
Rico, I became friends with a man named Ralph. He was in the navy, and
stationed there. Ralph was being transferred to Florida. I wanted to
move back to the states, but I didn't want the New England winters again.
When Ralph suggested I move to Florida, I thought it was a great idea.
I flew back to Connecticut for Christmas, and then drove down to Florida
with Ralph. And on to my more recent state of affairs... Action Film Service,
Inc., is more than just a photo lab. It's a studio, a camera shop, a
camera repair store, as well as a full service, custom, pro-lab. I was
originally hired to help do the machine printing. I did that for about
five months. When spring arrived, the manager of my job at the restaurant,
told me that they needed me back full time. So I gave Action Film a
four week notice. My Stay at Action... During my employ at Action Film Service I had many responsibilities. I assisted working at the front counter in the camera shop. I was the studio photographer. I organized, assembled, and shot most of the children's sports photography. I assisted with the B&W lab; doing B&W film development, B&W printing, shooting color & B&W copy negatives, shooting inter-negatives and copy slides. In July of 1998, they bought a computer system to start doing digital restorations. With no actual training, I was told to learn it. I taught myself Adobe Photoshop, and started doing the restorations. At the beginning of August 2000, I took over the custom-color printing lab, making custom prints from locket-size, up to 20X30's. In between all of this, I painted, I built walls and new rooms, I cleaned and organized the stockroom several times; I was generally the all around do-what-ever-they-need guy. And here I am... After six and a half years, I am no longer working for them. In no way, do I regret my decision to work there. They have given me the opportunity to learn and grow a great deal as a photographer. But even as the people there have been like family to me, it's time to move on. There comes a time when you need to leave the nest to continue to grow. Although Pensacola has probably the best beaches in the world, the business opportunities are few. So I am now back in Connecticut. Hopefully I can get my career back on track.
|
||||||
