During the summers of 1989 and 1990, I mowed the grass at East Kentucky Power Cooperative in Winchester while I was in college. There were usually two of us, and they nicknamed us CBs which stood for college boys. On rainy days we would work inside the building changing out light bulbs. There was one department that always had the brightest lights on East Kentucky Power's campus, and that was the public relations department, because I would replace good bulbs with other good bulbs, just so that I could go there hang out with the staff. 

They had a very similar department like what I would eventually be part of at Eastern Kentucky University, with a director, a writer, a photographer, and a graphic designer. As a young, aspiring, wannabe photographer, I fell in love with everything that they did. I got to know the whole staff and was amazed at the work they turned out, that included a company magazine, a newsletter, and external press releases. But the cream of the crop was their annual report, that was printed on heavy stock, gloss paper. I never read the words much, but I studied every aspect of the photos. I knew they're public relations department was playing in the major leagues and that was where I wanted to be some day. I just didn't know how to get there. One thing was certain. I knew that when I grew up as a photographer that was what I wanted to do. It would just require a little bit of a journey before I could get there. 

Their director was a man named Jerry Schierman, who was a fabulous amateur photographer in his own right. I asked him if he would critique my portfolio that was literally in a scrapbook. Geez!!! A few weeks later, after I had bugged him enough, he gave me a day and a time to come up and talk to him. I turned it into a self-proclaimed interview, just knowing that he was going to offer me a job on the spot as an assistant to their seasoned, full-time photographer John Ginter.

I got off of the tractor and bush hog that I had been mowing with all summer, and came inside the building that morning and cleaned up and put on a shirt and tie for my big interview. I was so pumped up. But my opportunity of a lifetime quickly turned into the great reality of a lifetime. Jerry was very nice to me, but he was also brutally honest with me. I was at the point in my career that my parents and my friends were telling what a great photographer I was. But in reality, I pretty much sucked and had a long way to go before working in corporate photography. Jerry told me that I needed to learn how focus. I needed to get better at composition, and I needed a lot of work to be better in the darkroom! He said that East Kentucky Power was getting ready to celebrate their 50th anniversary and that would require some extra work, but it wasn't anything that John Ginter couldn't handle, and he didn't really need two photographers. 

Jerry gave me a very sobering critique of my photography. His honesty crushed my ego, but it was a blessing in disguise. He didn't tell me what I wanted to hear, instead, he told me what I needed to hear. He also gave me a piece of advice that was pure gold. He told me to go back to EKU and change my major from public relations to journalism, because in the public relations industry you had to be a good writer, and journalism was the best training to be a daily writer. I took his advice and switched my major in the fall of 1990, and the rest is history. 

Fast forward about ten years later... I was killing it as EKU's University Photographer. East Kentucky Power and Touchstone Energy were the title sponsor of the All-A Classic basketball tournament that was played on EKU's campus each year. I went over one day to grab a few pictures, and in those days I had studio lights in the catwalk that I would fire with a remote from my camera. Jerry was there working the tournament. I recognized him, but he had no idea who I was. He came up to me and said with child-like wonder, "Are you the one making those lights fire from the catwalk, and how are you doing that!?!" My response was..."You don't know who I am, do you?" It was truly a Simba and Mufasa circle-of-life moment. Although he didn't remember the advice he gave me, I told him that it was probably the greatest life-changing advice that any one had ever given me.

A couple of years after I left EKU to go out on my own, John Ginter, who had been East Kentucky Power's photographer for almost 40 years at that point, hired me to help him a couple of different times. Then when he retired, the company that I used to mow the grass for, and the company that I wanted to work for so badly, ultimately hired me on a contract basis to fill John's shoes. I didn't get to be part of their 50th anniversary, but the company is now celebrating their 85th this year. I now get to do the bulk of their photography, including the annual report. The same annual report that I used to sit and pour over on those rainy days as a CB. 

It truly warms my heart and puts a smile on my face each year when a new East Kentucky Power Cooperative annual report is published, with my photos gracing the cover and the inside pages. It just goes to show that God has a plan. And usually his clock is a little slower than ours. I wanted to work for East Kentucky Power so bad in 1990, but God had different plans, and thankfully, he knew that I had a lot of growing to do first.  

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Jerry Schierman, seen here with me at the All-A Classic in 2014, was one of the most important mentors that I ever had. I mowed the grass at East Kentucky Power during the summers of 1989 and 1990, and on rainy days I was inside the buildings changing light bulbs. Jerry was the communications manager at EKPC, and gave very valuable advice when he told me to switch my major at Eastern Kentucky University from public relations to journalism, because he said it would make me a better writer. Jerry's department always had the brightest lights because I would constantly change them out just so that I could hang out up there and ask questions.

Jerry gave me a very sobering critique of my photography. Things like the importance of being in focus, and better darkroom skills. As bad as it hurt, I really needed to hear that because I was at the point that my parents and friends were telling me how good I was when I really wasn't. Sometimes you need to hear the truth. Jerry was very nice but brutally honest with me, and I worked hard to get better at photography because of Jerry.
Jerry Schierman and I at the All-A Classic Basketball Tournament in 2014. 

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