We recently connected with Gillian Crippen and have shared our conversation below.
Gillian , sincerely appreciate your selflessness in agreeing to discuss your mental health journey and how you overcame and persisted despite the challenges. Please share with our readers how you overcame. For readers, please note this is not medical advice, we are not doctors, you should always consult professionals for advice and that this is merely one person sharing their story and experience.
My older brother Justin committed suicide 4 years ago, and that extreme loss forever changed my worldview. He was an Ivy League educated doctor, and his life looked successful from the outside. I knew he was struggling at the end, and I tried hard to help him. Watching him unravel and then collapse was very painful. It made me realize how important it is to live an authentic life. Justin was also a talented artist growing up, yet he chose medicine instead, as many others in our family had before him. After he died, I decided to live for both of us now, and express myself through photography. With my art, I capture the beauty I see in life. I now have PTSD and I find taking photographs and even just looking at my art sooths me. I know Justin is proud.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I was always fascinated by photography and was told that I had a great eye, but never thought I’d be lucky enough to have a photography career. I started working as a Photography Assistant for a Tampa wedding photographer. To be honest, he had great technical skill, but not great people skills and also a significant dose of hubris. I realized that if he can be a photographer, then I can do it. In addition to learning on the job, I started taking photography lessons from a retired advertising photographer. I also worked with a sports photographer who just threw me into it, which turned out to be a quick way to learn. I then started my own business, Gillian Photography, which features more abstract and avant garde photographs. I had an opening exhibit in December and my work is currently hanging at Neighborhood Joe in Saint Petersburg. I also photograph families during the week at sunset at a beach resort. It’s really good for my mental health to see the sunset every day and talk with people in good moods on their vacations.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
That’s a great question. I think my resilience has been incredibly important. Each time I hit a road block, I just figured out a way around it. When the photographer I was working for didn’t do the best job of training me, I started paying for lessons from the advertising photographer. I found photography jobs here and there at first, and was not picky about what jobs I took, because I knew the long term value of learning more skills. I am also driven, so I kept going no matter what. I am raising 3 boys, so there is a lot of responsibility and commitment in my life already. I want them to see me overcoming something as terrible as my brother’s death, and making something beautiful afterwards. Faith in myself has been key, because I realized I can do anything I set my mind to. I decided that I deserve this career as much as the next person, so I can take up space and express myself. It’s been rewarding.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
Yes, my art is abstract. I love looking at a vibrant picture and trying to figure out what I’m really looking at. I have a photograph of glass, and people ask me if it’s waves or the ocean. A retired interior designer came to my show and recommended I connect with designers, since my pieces are good match for people’s homes. My work is currently showing at a coffee shop in St Petersburg, and I would like to keep showing it in the city. I love meeting other artists and the guy I hired to hang my photos is a painter. He’s going to be the next artist featured in the coffee shop! I love making connections like that and seeing how we can collaborate and support each other. I also want to keep speaking on mental health. I did the We Are All Insane podcast and am going to be a guest on a local podcast this week. My therapist told me that art will help me through my grief surrounding the loss of my brother, and it certainly has been a lifeline. I am grateful.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.gillianphotography.com/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/gilliancripp?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gillian.crippen
Image Credits
Gillian Crippen
