Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to David Colson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi David, thanks for joining us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

The single greatest thing that my parents did right by me and my four siblings was encourage us to find the path in life that made us happy. We were never once told or pushed to “follow in their footsteps”. We grew up in a modest, middle class family where the value of hard work was instilled in us, no matter what we decided we were going to pursue. For myself and my four siblings that has meant five us all pursuing our dreams and professions in different fields. For me personally it has allowed me to pursue multiple career paths, each one different than the others. I’ve worked retail, corporate, business, as a self employed consultant, and now as a full time Park Ranger while also pursuing personal goals of hiking, trekking, and adventuring in America’s Natioanal Parks, as well as internationally in areas such as Tanzania and Nepal

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Only recently (early 2023) did I realize my dream of becoming a Park Ranger with the National Park Service. I became a Park Ranger after several years working in the business and corporate worlds. I pair my love of the outdoors with my work as a Park Ranger and with my love for photography, which I discovered in high school. Everywhere I travel, including at work, I carry a camera of some kind with me to document through photographs the experiences I have, primarily focusing on the landscapes I encounter as well as wildlife.

I am most proud of my catalog of photographs, which I regularly pick from to share publicly on various social media platforms in hopes of inspiring others to actively chase whatever their dreams or desires might be. I am particularly proud of the feedback I get from followers, as well as allowing others to publicly use photographs that I share.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

The particular mission or goal driving my creative journey is simply to hopefully inspire others to create. Whether it is written work, visual arts, performing arts, and no matter the creative medium, my goal is to inspire others to create. From my experience, creating through photography and other means is an outlet to a deeper understanding of the world, people, and places around me. My hope is that others can find the same inspiration I have found to share their talents with others, as I often find that creative expression is a window into the soul and mind of the person creating.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I had to unlearn is that life paths are linear, including careers. I have found this to be completely untrue, from my own experience. Life and careers will undoubtably never be a linear journey, often resulting in peaks and valleys, detours, and back tracks. I stress this to people more and more the older I get and the more experiences I have as we still are often taught as a society to pick one life path or one career path and to focus on that. For the creative minded that mindset can be a hurdle to overcome. In unlearning the lesson that life and careers are not linear I have come to realize and embrace that change is inevitable and it is more than okay to pursue multiple interests, especially in the creative space we hold.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/politico101
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dccolson

Image Credits
All images can be credited to me, but can be used freely without permission.