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Law or photography? It's a tough choice for this active and artistic civil counselor!
Although Wayne Gillman of Salt Lake City has practiced civil law for over 20 years, he says "the practice of law is ultimately unfulfilling to me. Lawyers don't really produce anything or create anything in a real sense." He also dislikes the constant conflict and adversarial settings in which lawyers must often work.
What life would he prefer? "Something that gives me a sense of fulfillment, productivity, and creative self-expression," he says. Enter photography.
Gillman, described by friends as a thinner, taller version of game-show host Alex Trebek, bought his first 35mm SLR in 1977. For years, he contentedly made what he calls "happy snaps." A flower here, a sunset there, some not-very-good scenics, vacation pix, and family photos. Then a few things happened. A death in the family and a trip to Yellowstone, two unrelated events, brought home to him the power of photography in some unexpected ways.
First event: Shortly after the death of his father, in 1977, Gillman took his Minolta SRT 200 to his dad's farm, 200 acres in Orem, Utah, the place where Gillman had grown up. He walked through the fields and orchards on a gray November day, making close-ups of hand tools, farming implements, architectural details, fruit trees, and crops. Years later, Gillman studied the farm photos...and saw his father in all of them. He made prints for his three sisters, who agreed their father lived on in the images. Gillman noticed how the photos pulled his family together.
Second event: While cross-country skiing through Yellowstone in the early 1990s, Gillman saw how the afternoon sun cut through the haze of a geyser's plume, highlighting the water's gushing shape with a halo of hard-edged, crystalline light. He captured the moment with his Minolta SRT 200. Days later, as he admired the resulting pictures, Gillman thought, "Hey! These aren't snapshots. These are something else." A framed photo from that outing still hangs on his office wall, certainly more art than happy snap. These two events convinced Gillman to...