A Father’s Day Reflection from The Print Refinery

Father’s Day is right around the corner and here at The Print Refinery, photos are a family affair. We are experts at helping our customers preserve the family histories that they’ve inherited from their ancestors and archive them for future generations. What you may not know is that we derive that passion for our work from personal experience. In honor of Father’s Day, I’d like to take this opportunity to share a bit about my dad and how the things I learned from him started me on the path to where I am today.

My dad has always been a visually oriented person. Throughout my childhood he worked as a graphic designer, but still pursued the fine arts in his spare time — he even converted our basement into a painting studio. He was also the kind of dad who always had his camera with him. Whether it was his film SLR or the gigantic VHS camcorder, whenever it came time to record family events it was always him behind the camera. I honestly wish he had handed it off more often, because in a lot of our early home movies he’s barely in front of the camera! But his creative eye meant we had many great moments caught on film.

Despite growing up in a very creative household, I didn’t begin taking art seriously until I was in high school. One semester, my biology class went on a field trip to Brookfield Zoo, and part of our assignment was to photograph the animals we saw. My dad let me use the “good camera”, which felt like quite an honor since it rarely left his side. That small gesture sparked my interest in photography; an interest he surely took notice of, since my graduation present was an SLR of my very own. I decided to pursue a college degree in photography, and graduated with my Bachelor of Arts in Photography 4 years later. Ever since then I’ve been able to pursue my passion with a career in the photographic industry, and I owe it all to my dad’s willingness to encourage my interests.

It’s very easy to become caught up in the business of adult life and forget to tell our parents how much we value their contributions. So this Father’s Day, be sure to remind dad how much he means to you!