So during the school year of my sophomore year, a friend and myself worked for a guy who went to our church. What made it better was the fact he lived about 10 minutes walking from my parents so I did not need a ride over there. He was and still is a great photographer and was looking for a few assistants to help him get his photographs organized. The St. Louis Rams had just moved from Los Angeles and he got a job as being one of their photographers. I do not think I have seen so many pictures of football players in my life. From talking on the sideline to plays on the field to the fans.
He also would do events in St. Louis as well as college events. He worked with the Saint Louis University Women’s Basketball team. This was the one event that he took me out on the job for to see what he did and keep up with what he had to do. A 15 year old male going to watch women’s college basketball: TOUGH CALL. He was all over the place. Shooting from different angles from the court to the stands. Not many people attended the girls games in the mid 90’s as they played on campus in an OLD gymnasium so he could move around all over the place without interfering with anyone’s views.
It amazed me how the process worked. He would take the pictures to going into his dark room and develop them to cutting them to getting them into slides. Then after all this work, he would get a few pictures from the clients and the rest would be for him to keep. It was insane the work and dedication that he put into one event to get less than 25% of the pictures taken.
What David Preston showed me was that hard work and dedication to God and family through your work may not produce the big bucks all the time. But it sure earns you a lot of respect from people. I saw him about three weeks ago taking pictures for a big hospitality event in downtown St. Louis. He was taking pictures of the mayor of the city and county controller. He has garnered the respect of MANY organizations in this great town. He does something he loves and keeps pressing forward.
I would love to see his collection of slides now though. That was 15 years ago this fall!
To see more of David Preston, go to http://www.davidwpreston.com/
Next Job – Tom Sawyer Impersonator????
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