When I was three years old on my daddy's knee he said “You can be anything you want to be.” Anyway, In the third grade in Mrs. Garbowski's class, we drew pictures of what we wanted to be when we grew up. I wanted to be a “barber” and own my own hair salon. I drew a picture of me cutting hair, and I even cut a piece of my own hair and glued it to my picture. In Jr. High I wanted to be a baker and own my own bakery. In high school I wanted to own a wedding dress store and plan weddings. As a freshman in college I decided to major in business because I have always wanted to own my own business. That year my sister, Kayla, was getting married. I remember walking into the photographer's studio that was going photograph her wedding, and looking around I felt inspired and I decided I wanted to be a photographer. I changed my major to photography and moved to Lubbock. I had this instructor, Jerod, he kind of reminds me Mike from American Pickers. Any way, he and Wyman were great. Wyman Mienzer seems like he would make a great character from a book. When I was sitting in his classroom, I felt like I should have been sitting around a camp fire. He told the best stories and he really helped think about looking at things differently and to train my eye to capture images that tell a story. I learned a lot about photography from those guys and wanted so badly to impress them with my work. After all my photo classes, it got to the point where I would analyze every image I saw and critiqued why it was good or bad or what could be done to make it a better image. Anytime I walk outside I just study the light at different times of the day. So just two days after college graduation I got a job at The Photo Store. I call it my photo store family. Guy, Lloyd, Jon, Joanna, Colby, Lisa, Melissa, Betty, even Corlis and Myrle. I would come home and tell Bryan all the crazy stories that happened to me that day at work. I think he thought I was making half of that stuff up. I gained a lot of experience working there in taking portraits of people. I had baby after senior after family shooting and editing and selling one session after the other. I was photographing every day and I really improved my photo skills but it eventually got to the point where photographing was just work and it wasn't always fun anymore. I had a change in heart and decided out of the blue to become a teacher. I am working toward the end of the certification process and am about to become Mrs. Artho, the first grade student teacher. I get to teach little kids to learn how to read! That is a skill they will use daily their entire life. I am excited about teaching in so many different ways. I believe I am right where I need to be. Not to mention that I am getting to plan my wedding with Bryan! I have decided that I still want photography to be a part of my life because it brings something to my life that makes me happy. My favorite part is showing people the pictures I took of them. I like to see their reaction and seeing people's comments on facebook. I want to follow my dream to own my own business and I'm excited because I get to do it the way I want. My business classes were great, but I probably learned more about running a business from Mindy.
