What Was Your First Job?

Hunter Freeman thinks kids are amazing.  So much so that he recently created a series of photographs of them dressed as if they were working in adult occupations.  He wanted to see what a young child  could look believable enough to make someone think they had the job they portrayed.  Not surprisingly, making the whole package believable was the challenging aspect:  the subjects’ attitudes, the clothing, the hair and dirt and sweat, etc., were all so important to making that happen.  The portraits were a bit of a look into the future for those kids, what their lives might be like.  

The images inspired him to write this blog post.

“Probably not the kind of job these kids portray.  Like a lot of kids, I was in it for the cash (oh, yeah!) from the beginning.  I pulled weeds for my grandma, mowed her’s and our lawns, mowed even more people lawns, learned to iron bedsheets with a mangle (now there’s an appropriately named device), and washed cars.  Then, off for some candy or a movie or whatever.  Later on during one summer, I foolishly joined a friend’s impromptu landscaping business, and yes, the pay was the reason.  However, I learned right away that what before I had thought was hard work, wasn’t.  I thought I was going to die. What a shock to a nerdy math/science guy that was 5’ tall going into high school.

What I learned from all those and other jobs, was a little understanding of what it means to work hard and persevere.  I’m grateful to have learned even a bit of this, because being an advertising photographer is not a job for the timid slacker, as much as I wish it was.  I can wish, right?  Wait, no, if I’m wishing I will be wishing for a BILLION dollars!  Anyways….

Every successful photographer I know works hard, and the best of them never stop moving and thinking and creating and planning and talking with everyone about everything.  And I suspect that they enjoy the hell out of it.  How could they not, when there are so many wonderfully fantastic people in our photo world, and a BILLION amazing exciting fascinating things to do in it?”

To see more of Hunter Freeman’s work, be sure to link to his website.