Visions Of Sugarplums | Emberger Media -by Paul Emberger

It was the summer of 1997. I had just turned 22, and in that same week decided to jump into self employment.

What was I thinking? I had no business skills, no money, and hadn’t even finished college. All I had was me, my camera bag and ambition.

By this point I had already studied photography for 4 years. I’d completed an internship and had been working part time as an assistant to a commercial photographer. So I knew photography. Well, that’s what my brain told me as I rationalized my decision. What I didn’t know was although I could control my camera, make well composed images and nice prints- I knew nothing of running a business.

So, there I was. Green with confidence, I made some business cards, letterhead and envelopes. Not knowing what to do next, I made a few cold calls. Which resulted in zilch. I tried making appointments to meet with Art Directors. More zilch. I was however, asked by friends to take pictures of their kids. And, for a time, kid portraits were my main stream of income.

That was ok. I was able to make my share of the rent. But I felt like I was barely treading water. It was now a month and a half into my new endeavor. Something had to change.

A friend, who was a member of the local Chamber of Commerce, invited me to an upcoming mixer. I’d never attended a networking event, so I was quite apprehensive. These were seasoned business people. I was a kid who knew nothing about anything.

That evening I met a few contacts that would later turn into clients. One of which was quite serendipitous. She was an art director of a local publication that was undergoing a huge identity change. To accompany the change they were looking for some new talent.

We spoke for a bit and she invited me to bring in my book. It felt amazing. An A-D actually asked me if she could see my work! Needless to say, I called the very next day and set up a meeting for the following week. It went very well. She offered me my first editorial assignment.

The story was to appear in the December 1997 issue of Central Pa Magazine, formerly known as Apprise. The old publication served as a program guide to the region’s public television station. The new version took shape as a full fledged regional magazine.

Just three weeks after the Chamber’s mixer, I was off to shoot the Central PA Youth Ballet. The dancers were rehearsing for their upcoming performance of Balanchine’s “The Nutcracker.”

I shot during rehearsal for the next 3 days, using mostly high speed Black and White film, part of my signature at the time. Even shooting with T-max 3200, and Tri-x pushed to 1600, I still needed to pop some light into the scene. I was so new (and poor), I didn’t have the money for my own lighting gear. So, very graciously, the magazine loaned me their Bowans kit.

I shot 6 Rolls of film. The A-D choose five images for the above eight page spread. I was 22 years old, recently self-employed and newly published. It rocked.