When I was 7 I wanted to be Batman.
When I was 14 I wanted to be a pilot. Went to a high school where they taught FAA certified airframe and power plant classes in addition to the normal high school curriculum. Ended up transferring schools after my second year because the family moved.
When I was 19 I wanted to be a boxer. Trained in martial arts in one form or another since I was 12. Shotokon, Aikido, Jeet Kune Do. I started training at a boxing gym and thought I had it in me to go pro. My amateur record was 5-0.
When I was 20 I wanted to be a pilot. Met a girl that didn't like me fighting. Her dad was a pilot and he got me started taking lessons. I got my solo endorsement and was on the cusp of getting my private pilot certificate when my instructor had to move to Florida. I got frustrated with having to find a new instructor and then time and money got tight when I started college. It's still something I've been meaning to get back to. At the very least earn my Private with an IFR rating. I hope to someday be able to retire and own a plane of my own and spend my golden years flying the country from airport to airport.
When I was 21 I wanted to be a news photographer. I bicycled across the country on a trip with a friend and took photos along the way. I've always taken photos to show people the things I've seen and done as I've been an avid traveler since my teens and I'm bad with words, I can't describe anything, I have to show people. The girl I was dating at the time was an aspiring photographer and from her I learned about photojournalism and that telling stories with photos was a whole profession. So I started going to a community college to study photography. Prior to that I had no interest in going to college and thought I never would. But I actually found something I wanted to learn and do with my life. I threw myself into wholeheartedly. I earned my associates in Photography and became my old professors teaching assistant and started teaching his photo 1 and 2 classes, then went on to get my bachelors in English with a minor in journalism. I wanted to get my bachelors in journalism but it would have taken an extra year.
When I was 25 I graduated and I applied to a small magazine in Milwaukee, Wisconsin after getting turned down for a handful of internships at various magazines. I got the job and was working as a staff photographer for a small nightlife magazine. I think the publisher wanted it to be a magazine that focused on alcohol but it ended up covering things about nightlife in general, clubs, parties, people and such. It ended up being a lot of me photographing girls in bars and nightclubs and photographing cups of alcohol for drink recipes. It was also in Wisconsin. I couldn't stand the winter. So when my contract was up I moved back home to NYC.
At 26 I spent 3 months unemployed. Then one day while walking to the deli I saw a newspaper on the ground. I have a habit of picking up the local newspaper whenever I travel to someplace new. I looked through it and liked a few of the images. I searched the photographers name online and saw a forum post that they were looking for someone for a photographers position. So I contacted her and she said the position was at a newspaper she used to work at and that they already filled it. But they paper she works at now was actually looking for freelancers and she liked my work and she started giving me assignments. At the same time I applied to the paper she used to work at and they also needed a freelancer and they gave me assignments as well. So that started my career as a photojournalist. Working freelance assignments for two small rival papers. I did food reviews and community events at first. Then was trusted with features. From there I started covering breaking news.
At 28 I started applying for jobs at large newspapers. Most of the time I got no response. A handful sent letters saying they liked my work but weren't hiring or that they went with someone else. Until I got a response from one saying they needed a freelancer. I did a few assignments for them and the calls became more frequent and I got more familiar with the editors. And one day they said they'd like to have me exclusively and they offered me a fulltime position.
Today I'm a contract photographer for the largest newspaper in the country covering breaking news, features and the occasional real estate assignment for the metro section.