At the age of 51, I decided to make a career change and soon found myself debating what I wanted to be when I grow up with freshly graduated teenagers at the local community college. I was old enough to know that I’m too quirky and selfish to make a good nurse, so I chose a career in laboratory science as a Medical Laboratory Technologist or MT for short.

Eventually, I left my permanent job and became a travelling MT. This entails working in understaffed hospital laboratories on 13-week assignments throughout the country. Fast forward several years… I have taken assignments in Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, Arizona, and Iowa. My latest assignment required me to drive twenty-three hours from a very small and boring farming town in Iowa to a more scenic, history-filled metropolis known as Boston, MA.

It was very dark and late when I stopped at a roadside motel so I didn’t notice the scenery change that is typical of such long drives. The following morning, I was awestruck at the beauty that seemed to have popped up out of nowhere. I found myself fantasizing that I was a world-famous photographer on assignment for National Geographic. I bought my first camera two days later.

I invite you to join me in my photography journey as I navigate the frustration and rewards of photography.

–Donna Kim