We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dawn Hester. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dawn below.

Dawn, appreciate you joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

My Mother was a single parent. During my senior year I knew asking/talking about college was out of the question; I had to find a job. I took the ASVAB test (military) for the Air Force. I didn’t do well (and that was okay) but my scores were good enough for the Air National Guard. Talking with the Recruiter, I browsed all the jobs the Photography popped up. I thought that was cool. After photography school, I still needed a job. FBI was hiring, I applied and was accepted. After a year (close to it) I applied for a position in the Photographic Department – was accepted. A few years I became a Forensic Photographer. I retired from the ANG after 30 years of Service. Retired from the FBI after 39 years.

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?

On my website, my Tagline is “my photography is a little bit of this, a little bit of that…capturing what is here today and may be gone tomorrow.” I enjoy photographing landscapes, macro, small towns (always have strong characters), historical places, special events, and sports. I enjoy shooting film and digital and love both black & white and color.

After retirement, I knew I needed something to keep me busy. Photography was my out. Learning to not document “within the lines,” I’m now still learning how to shoot outside of them. I take photowalks to find subjects we only walk past or not think of them twice. When I visit National Parks, I take the iconic shot, but then I look further into that image and shoot what we tend to look over. I enjoy going to a small town on a Sunday morning (try to stay out of busy people way) and shoot while town is still quite. Every now ans then someone stops and talk: maybe about their town and sometimes they’re photographers also. Each state, town, community has it’s own uniqueness and I try to capture it. I’m a blogger therefore I come back with a story to tell and/or share.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding thing for being an artist is to share places where people only dream of or knew nothing of them. These places aren’t big places that I’m quite sure aren’t on peoples bucket list…..just places they never thought but enjoy seeing my images and reading my words. I had a friend tell me that she enjoys my images and blogs because it’s new and she knows when will never get to visit. I enjoy visiting the states (only 2 left) and documenting through my photography.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

When I joined social media, I joined “just because.” Just like anyone else, I didn’t know if people would follow me or not. Before I got on social media, I made sure my website looked as good as possible. If people want to really see my work, you would get a much better quality image vs IG, Threads, etc. To me social media is there for thumbnails and nothing else. Don’t try to please other people. Make sure you share your work, the work you really enjoy creating. At times, most of your followers are the same as you…and for me they’re photographers. BUT every now and then someone who you east expect is watching, therefore make sure you’re professional at all times. That first instinct will set into people minds before anything else. Don’t forget emails still works. Just don’t get down on yourself when things start out slow, it happens. Everyone has a camera, so competition is HIGH. Look at work, add an extra twist to make it stand out differently. Have patience…it’s not a race, it’s a marathon.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://dawndhester.com
• Instagram: dawndhester
• Facebook: Dawn D. Hester
• Linkedin: Dawn Hester

Image Credits

Dawn D. Hester