FullBleed

Photo by Pat Padua

I should tell you up-front that this is not a Snowmageddon story or a tale of Washington’s winter woes of 2010. No, it’s nothing like that. In fact, the story starts about five years ago when DC winters produced a few dustings of snow each year, and the stretch of non-federal holidays from President’s Day to Memorial Day was what we feared most in the mid-winter months before the approaching Spring. And, come to think of it, it hasn’t got much to do with the weather at all.

It’s about connections. And, of course, I am referring to the Butterfly Effect; a metaphor encapsulating the concept of sensitive dependence on initial conditions in chaos theory; namely, that small differences in the initial condition of a dynamical system may produce— Wait a second. There’s an easier way…

Just as the story in the film “Juno” “all started with a chair,” this one quite literally started with a pair of earmuffs. No, nobody got pregnant. But I did get a job — for a while.

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Smoke Break - Featured in the 2009 DCist Exposed Photography Show

From where does your inspiration originate? Familiar places or new, untapped areas? And where do we find the strength or courage to channel it when times are tough? Or when plans go awry?

I think we find that inspiration comes from within ourselves and, sometimes, from the help of others — even if we weren’t looking for it at the time.

When I was laid off from my job of four years in March of 2008, I had very little idea what my next move would be professionally and/or creatively. I knew that I had a lot of support from family and friends, plus a large network of fellow creatives from the DC design community. I heard the all-too-familiar cliche that this sudden change would most likely lead to bigger and better things for me, and that I should focus on the positive aspects of my freedom.

And I believed it. I really did. I just had no idea from where these new opportunities would come.
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