Passion to Profession: Introduction

When you were little, if someone asked you what you wanted to be when you grow up, what did you say? A princess? A firefighter? Superman? A ballerina? I wanted to be a mermaid. And as of June 1, my dreams came true when I started officially working with David Ulloa at Valeo Films Inc. Although I did spend an amazing afternoon swimming in a mermaid tail, in general I now swim around with a tank strapped to my back and camera in hand basically being a human fish, which seems to be pretty close to a mermaid.

So what exactly is Passion to Profession? For me, it meant taking my passion, diving, and turning it in to “work”. And I say work with quotation marks because when you truly love your job, you hesitate to call your job “work” and days of the week become arbitrary. This blog is about the evolution of diving from passion to profession in my life - a story to share so that others may be inspired to follow their dreams and do what they love. The pieces of the puzzle were years, or perhaps a lifetime, in the making, and a series of fortunate events and amazing adventures have led me down a path that I hope will inspire divers and non-divers alike. Remember: there is still time to become what you want to be when you grow up, regardless of age. I also hope to spark a bigger interest in diving in younger generations (and start teaching in a few months!) so that more young people can share a whole new world that is completely off limits without a regulator in their mouth. Living life on the dry 29.2% of the planet just isn’t as much fun.

This is me facing off with a little sunfish in Alexander Spring a few months ago. Photo credit goes to the amazing David Ulloa, head of Valeo Films Inc., professional diver and photographer, fantastic mentor, and one of the largest influences on my passion to profession journey. This day-trip was one of our weekly "Sunday Funday" dives where we explored springs around Florida. You can check out this adventure (and many many more from the past year) on my personal "Magnitude 1" blog that I started when I moved down to Gainesville, FL in August 2011.

Also, check out my new Passion to Profession Facebook Page for news and pictures :)

The biologist in me had to add this water chart from usgs.gov. While water covers about 2/3 of the planet, it is definitely not an infinite resource. In fact, almost 70% of the earth's fresh water is frozen in the glaciers!