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

Dona, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I have been earning a full time living for over 30 years with my photography. I started in the editorial sector working as a photo tech at the Palm Beach Post in West Palm Beach, Florida. Just before I got hired at the newspaper, I was taking art classes at a community college and stumbled on photography as an elective. I did not own a camera and had to borrow one to start the class. It happened to be a darkroom class (film & darkroom) and I loved it all. Literally fell in love with the process of capturing a moment, processing it and printing it. There were so many variables for mistakes that when something turned out well it felt like magic! I spent many hours in the dark and was building a portfolio when a friend who was a photographer for the newspaper informed me about a tech position. I knew little of newspapers or editorial work but I was obsessed with the darkroom and was excited about the possibility. My interview took an interesting turn when I opened a box of light sensitive paper and exposed it all! (As a student I never saw these black boxes before.) oops! I was shocked when I was hired and I never looked back.
The newspaper provided film, paper, chemicals, lights and anything you needed to grow in the field. So I experimented with all this and my images were catching eyes and soon I was being asked to illustrate articles!

I eventually got a job as a photographer at Palm Beach Daily News and Life Magazine. Another great learning experience. The opportunities to meet the rich and famous and photograph food, fashion and interiors proved to be another aspect that resonated with me.

After a few years I became a freelance photographer and then moved out west. Santa Fe to be exact . This was to be another avenue to explore fine art photography. Here I started selling my work at the famous Tesuque Flea Market. This was a fantastic opportunity to figure out what I was drawn to photograph and find my Passion! My spiritual response was equine, Native American and female images. That is my present repertoire of work that I show and sell today.
I guess to answer the question if there were short cuts I could have taken, I would have to say that all my experiences prepared me for the present moment and I would not do anything different. It was a blast in the editorial and advertising world and it was equally fun to leave it and explore images that I hoped would speak to others.

Dona, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

(I think I touched a lot of this in the first question)

I fell in love with B&W photography while taking a class at a community college. It was by chance that I stumbled into this class and it woke me up to the creative aspect of the process. I felt each moment that the shutter clicked in the camera. This is time being recorded, a mere moment that leads to another moment. This technical aspect spoke to me above all else.
The printing process contains its own form of “black magic” and that was the other inspiration for me. B&W imagery held a different format to view the world.
In the beginning of my career I worked for editorial and advertising publications in which color was supreme, but I found that B&W images were so powerful to me that I was always trying to persuade my editor’s into letting me photograph in B&W…
I continue to work in the darkroom today. Watching the images appear on the paper through dreamy liquid chemicals is magic! It beckons a creative moment that captures the nuances of the printing process. With its archival properties, I find it to be the perfect match for my images.
My work is mostly sepia toned with some occasional hand coloring. I present these large grain, ethereal images on cotton fiber paper and I frame them in distressed window frames for a one of a kind presentation.
Although the bulk of my work is hand printed silver gelatin, I do offer another type of image for a larger presentation. These large pieces are printed on linen and provide a beautiful texture as well as size. These Giclees are an archival process using pigment ink
Finally, my imagery is inspired by the connection of spirit in all of us….whether it be an animal, person or object, it is with hope that the viewer feels this connection.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

After I worked for Editorial and Advertising publications, I decided to work as a freelance photographer. This was a hard moment as I found self promotion to be hard at best. In my mind I wanted to create images that people would come running to me for! I had to find my creative pulse and vision.

I was a single mom and had to make money too! I decided to take a part time job at the Santa Fe Farmers market as farming was another interest of mine.
I also worked part time as Executive Director for a nonprofit organization. Though I was busy with this work and children, I set up a darkroom at my house and continued to photograph and print. No matter how many times I moved, I always had a darkroom. They were not always ideal and most never had running water but I kept the life and spirit of photography present in my life.
My children heard me yelling from my darkroom throughout their childhood, Don’t open that door”!

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

A quote that has always inspired me and I would paint on my walls of my home: “Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” Goethe

I have lived by these words! Always thinking that things will work out and sometimes asking for miracles!
It is a spiritual practice that one must keep present when creativity is in the driver’s seat!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.Thespottedponyphotography.com
• Instagram: Dona Bollard
• Facebook:The Spotted Pony Photography
• Linkedin: Dona Bollard

Image Credits
Dona Bollard