How did I get here??? How and Why I changed my career.......

My name is Jill Wilhelm and I am the owner and photographer at Real Image Photography in Windsor, Ontario. I have a GREAT life! Im 37 years old,married, no kids but 3 dogs and 3 cats and I feel most days like I am living my dream. So how did I get here? So some of you may or may not know I didn’t always dream of being a photographer….hard to believe I know!! After all it is the coolest job ever. If I can remember the very first career I had dreamed of it was probably to be an archeolgist, but I was nine at the time. I remember then thinking about being a vet because I loved animals, but couldn’t fathom the thought of euthanasia. Skip forward to high school and and I wanted to be a doctor. I went to the University to pursue my degree in biology and for some reason realized it wasn’t what I wanted to be doing. So here I am 20 years old and I literally have no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I had always been a good student and got good grades with ease so I knew I had opportunity at my fingertips. I decided to apply to the Veterinary Technician Program at St Clair College and was accepted. Its a tough program to get into with over 700 applicants every year and they take 40 students. I feel as though I had backtracked towards my love of animals and my love of science. So here I was at 22 back in college and I LOVED it…it was an intense two year program but I really did love it and I made so many good friends, some of which I still talk to this day. Its an old bad photo but these girls were everything for those two years!!!

Towards the end of my program, I thought again about applying to vet school but I was looking at at least 6 more years of school. At the time me and my husband had been dating for awhile and I wasn’t sure I was ready to commit to 6 more years of school. So off to work I went. I spent 8 wonderful years working at a local clinic with the greatest group of people ever. Not only were we colleagues but we truly all were great friends. Again some of them I still see and consider them close to my heart. We had a lot of fun, a lot of tears, and a lot of laughs together!

So as you can see it was a fun place to work….ps that is not a real dog Julie is doing CPR on….just a fake one! My last year of school my mom suffered a severe stroke at the young age of 53. She was walking on the Gnatchio Trail and had the stroke and fell into a ditch. She was walking our family dog molly and molly barked and barked till someone found her. They got her to the hospital actaully quite quickly and administered a clot busting drug, but unfortunately she suffered a brain bleed and fell into a coma. For around ten days we didn’t know which way this was going to go. They preformed a craniectomy to relieve pressure on her brain and she woke up. It was a long recovery for her and she is doing quite well today. She uses a wheelchair mostly to get around as she never really got back the movement on the left side of her body. Two short years after the stroke my Dad was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. It was a tremendous blow to our family. While we were hopeful of treatment, esophageal cancer is often found too late in the game and that was my dad’s case. Six months later he died with me holding his hand telling him it was ok to go, that we would be ok. I miss him everyday of my life. My sister and I know were the sole caretakers for my mother ( I was 24 at the time, my sister 27), but we managed and got through it. A few years later my mom almost died from the flu…..yes the flu…she ended up on a bipap machine which caused her bowels to get filled with air, and eventually perforate. She needed emergency surgery and was given a 50/50 chance. As they rolled her away and into surgery I remember turning to the surgical intern and saying “please save her, she is all we have left”. After 17 weeks in the hospital she came home. I truly believe that my sister and I have an unspeakable bond from going through all this together at such young ages.

Yes I am completely aware that I look like my dad! My husband RJ, had proposed to me before my dad got sick. He died 8 months before our wedding. Our wedding was held on what would have been his 58th birthday. We miss you dad everyday.

Ok so back to how I ended up where I am now….years went by and my creative part of me started to emerge. I had always been a creative person. I have been a musician now for 25 years. I learned to read music at 6 years old and played the piano, flute, violin and have started to learn a little guitar. I also at this time had found an old film camera and started playing around with it. The obsession began, I began taking pictures of my pets and then before I knew it I was taking pictures of kids and then families…..now at this point I am still working full time at the clinic and my side business started to grow. I shot my first wedding 8 years ago and then it just took off. I was dealing with a constant battle of time management and figuring out what my passion was. Then something happened that made it all clear………

On Nov 10th, 2010, I was working at the clinic and was told that the police were on the phone for me. I wasn’t too concerned as sometimes we got calls from the police looking for information on vaccine status of animals that had bitten people. I picked up the phone and the police officer said to me ” there has been an accident with your husband”. I already knew what that heart sinking to the pit of your stomach feels like from all the shocks I had in dealing with my parents illness’s. She them said ” he is ok, but we need you to come here”. For that maybe 3 second delay I had already pictured how my life was going to change because of this. I quickly left work and was told to go to Place Concord. When I got there Rj was sitting on the curb and he got in my car ( keeping in mind all I know is there has been some sort of car accident at this time. He got in my car and we both started to cry. I managed to somehow string together some words to ask him what happened. He told me he was coming off the expressway on lauzon and a semi truck carrying a steel coil had lost control and the steel coil had fell onto his car. At this point I am still not understanding the near gravity of the situation….so I said ok, but you’re ok..is the car ok? He looked at me and said “no its not…I can’t believe I’m alive”…I felt this sensation wash over me….I think it was the realization that my life could have changed today, I could have lost the love of my life, yet here he was sitting in front of me with only a sore shoulder. I said to him ” why are we here at place concord”….he looked at me and said ” I don’t want you to see the car”. This is when he told me the coil that fell on his car was 50,000lbs and had crushed the car, except for the drivers seat. He had managed to throw open his door and get out. The first responders couldn’t believe it…they thought they were going to be declaring someone on scene. It was a true miracle. I really believe in my heart that my dad was watching over him that day. That he saved him because I wouldn’t be able to handle anymore loss. It was about two days later when we went to see if we could salvage anything from the car………

The days following the accident, was a important turing point in my life. When you realize that your whole world could have changed, you realize what is truly important. I decided it was time to move forward. WE starting putting in plans for me to run my studio full time. A few months later I left my job as a vet tech and opened my studio full time. It was SO SCARY! My mind was constantly trying to figure out if it was the right thing to do. I had gone to school for all those years, I had won prestigious awards during college in the program, I had dedicated my life to helping animals and I was walking away from some of the best people I know. I was scared I wouldn’t be able to make enough money…what if I quit and failed and had to go work at a horrible clinic anyways. What if I wasn’t good enough to to this job…afterall I am a mostly self taught photographer….could I succeed? The first few months of being self employed were scary and stressful, but I fell into it in the most natural way eventually. Don’t get me wrong building a business is hard, being self employed is hard, but doing what you are passionate about every single day is not hard. My dad always told me that as long as you are doing something you love everyday, it doesn’t matter the pay, you are already a millionaire……words to live by.

So that brings us to now! 8 years later and still going strong. My business has grown exponentially over the years and I can honestly say I have no regrets. Sure there are times when I think about the longevity of this career but for now I am enjoying my career. ITs a super scary thing to start over and I know a lot of people who want to do it but are simply scared. They can’t fathom changing their lives because what if they fail. Well, to all those out there contemplating a change in career, this is my advice….GO FOR IT! DO WHAT YOU LOVE! TOMORROW IS NOT PROMISED TO ANYONE! If anything you will regret not at least trying! If anything I have learned from all we have been through from not knowing what I wanted to do or who I was , to my parents illnesses, coping with the loss of a parent at a young age and a near loss of my husband is that your life is precious. You should treat things that are precious with love and importance. Whatever you are afraid of that is holding you back, I promise it will only make you stronger.

Here are some things I have accomplished since starting my new career

I am a happier person

I spend more time with my family

We are actively fulfilling our dream of travelling around the world

I love what I do everyday

We have built a brand new studio that is amazing

My income tripled from when I was working as a tech

I have become a published photographer several times over in big publications

I have won awards for my work

I have had opportunities to give back to my community

I still have my passion

I LOVE my life

Life is short and unexpected. Make the most of it. Live, Love, Dream and Be Happy!!!!

I’ve come along way….this is the very first newborn I shot and the last one I just shot the other day. Its been a lot of hard work, investment, determination and long hours but I am so very happy