KK: I asked TPII editor, Dr. Paige Morgan, to write a post sharing her AMAZING photography with the readership. Please buy her art!
All photos on the Flickr link below can be ordered in almost any size on canvas, metal, or acrylic.
GO HERE: https://www.flickr.com/photos/186362151@N07/
If you see something you like and wish to support this post-ac artist and TPII editor, please email PaigeMorganPhD@gmail.com for logistics and pricing.
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By Dr. Paige Morgan
Paige Morgan is a Neuroscience PhD and TPII editor on a mission to make pandemic life a little less miserable with art. No stranger to general angst within higher ed, she lives in a small Wyoming town where she adjuncts and helps first-generation college students navigate the ivory tower. A lover of large ungulates and admirer of vast western landscapes, Paige carries her camera everywhere. Though you cannot join her on the mountain, because COVID, she hopes that her photos will bring you mentally to the places she has gone.
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This is a short story about how photography has helped a post-ac adjunct/editor/advisor survive the gig-economy amidst a pandemic. On January 1st, like most other humans on planet earth, I set my intentions for 2020. Each year I make it a goal to do something that brings me out of my comfort zone. Unaware that 2020 would bring much discomfort on its own, I announced to my social media accounts that I would be sharing and selling my photography. As a low-income, first-generation college student, I have long dealt with a severe case of imposter syndrome, which sneaks up on me when I embark on new ventures. I immediately worried that others would view my attempts at being an artist as silly and unworthy. I certainly doubted that anyone would actually want to buy something that I produced. After all, I am not a trained photographer; I am a neuroscience PhD with a DSLR camera.
Growing up, the only places I had really explored were the concrete jungles of the East Coast and rustbelt cities of the Midwest. To attend my graduate program though, I found myself in a small town in Wyoming. Actually by Wyoming standards it is fairly large but at the time, it was a remote wintery tundra to me. I was completely taken by the endless horizons. There were plants I had never seen before and animals larger than my SUV. Tumbleweed, which I thought was a fictional phenomenon reserved for dramatic pause in old western movies, rolled across the highway. I bought my first camera and spent my free time running off to the hills to hide in bushes and take pictures of moose. As I advanced as a graduate student, free time became a luxury I could not seem to afford. When I did have an opportunity to step away from the lab, I found it hard to enjoy. There were always papers to be written, conferences to be prepared for, or experiments to worry about. Thoughts of my research seeped into every square inch of my available mental bandwidth.
The hills of Wyoming are without cell service. At first, this was alarming. Growing up in the city, I had never in my life even visited a place without service. What if my car breaks down and I can’t get back to town? What if there is a problem in the lab and my advisor needs to get ahold of me? On the mountain, I was forced to engage with my environment. This became an escape.
I got to the end of my PhD. In my first attempt at applying for a tenure-track job, with almost no help from my mentors, I landed an on-campus interview at a SLAC in southern Oregon. The interview went well but I was not selected; a feeling of rejection I am sure many of you can relate to. In search of adventure, and partially out of desperation, I accepted a temporary postdoc position in Alaska—an actual remote wintery tundra. From a photography standpoint, it was an absolute delight. Between stunning mountain views and access to the world’s largest ungulate specie, I was hardly ever without my camera. During my working hours though, I was feverishly applying to positions of all kinds. Tenure-track jobs, visiting assistant professorships, government jobs, industry positions, high school teaching, you name it. I had several interviews that were all quite successful by my measurement but by the end of my one-year postdoc I had 65 rejection letters in my inbox and about 2,000 photos that would later be lost in an Apple update.
Deflated, I chose to go back home to Wyoming and took a job with pay that was less than ideal. So like a good millennial, I hunted for side gigs. After landing an adjunct teaching position and convincing Karen to hire me as an editor for TPII, I suddenly had 3 jobs. But I also had my camera and the mountain still provided an escape from my escalating responsibilities. Paradoxically, I found myself sneaking away more frequently. Even with the towering peaks of Alaska burned into my memory, these rolling Wyoming hills seemed tall and mighty, more beautiful than I remembered. I began to notice things I had not when my brain was filled with grad school worries. Rocks covered with lichen and dusty fallen pine cones exuded a beauty I had not appreciated before. I became inspired to share with others what I had encountered out there.
This feeling of connection, between me and you and the mountain, has become ever more significant in the COVID-era. It is a vessel through which I can bring you with me on my adventures. Because obviously, as a COVID-conscious human, I cannot allow you to actually do so.
Amazingly, I sold my very first piece of art during this pandemic. Technically, this makes me a professional photographer.
Technically, this is my third side gig and fourth job that brings me money to support my family during this time of general angst (particularly within higher ed). By purchasing my art, you would be supporting a local artist and post-ac warrior. Join me on the mountain!
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All photos on the Flickr link below can be ordered in almost any size on canvas, metal, or acrylic.
GO HERE: https://www.flickr.com/photos/186362151@N07/
If you see something you like and wish to support this post-ac artist and TPII editor, please email PaigeMorganPhD@gmail.com for logistics and pricing.
The post I’m a Professional Photographer – #Postac Guest Post by TPII Editor Paige Morgan appeared first on The Professor Is In.