We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mike Wicks a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Mike, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

I do wish I had followed my passion of shooting when I was in college. I know my path would have been so much different today. My life is good and I make a decent living but I know I would have been a staff photographer at either Nat Geo or one of the other nature magazines for sure.

I also wish I wasn’t scared of a paint brush when I was younger. People told me I had no talent. In 4th grade I did a presentation on how I wanted to be an artist but the class laughed at me and my work.

But alas I found my way eventually.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

When I turned 13, my dad asked me if I’d rather get a new bike or a new camera. I had been building my own bikes for years from spare parts but couldn’t build a camera so I opted for the camera, a Sears KSX Auto. That was my start into shooting. Whilst in university I took photography classes using that same camera. Rolling my own fill rolls, days spent in the darkroom just increased my love of the art of shooting.

I put my camera aside during the 90’s for personal reasons but in 2000 I scheduled a trip for Alaska, bought a used Minolta 35mm and shot up a storm from Denali to Seward. I haven’t put a camera down since and in 2006 after getting scuba certified I took my first digital camera down under the ocean and rediscovered again my love of shooting. My first images in 2007 were used in the National Wildlife Federations 2010 calendar and I’ve been published in various magazines and won more awards from gallery shows over the years since.

In 2016 I decided to see if I could take my love to another level and picked up a paint brush. I started painting from images I had shot over there years. My painting have won awards and now also hang in many households on the West Coast.

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

Being an underwater photographer always has it’s challenges be they gear issues that you can’t fix underwater or lack of visibility on a dive, or a current so strong that you can barely stay still long enough to get a focused shot. But most recently I had an experience that few encounter on land. On my way to a retreat where I was going to set up a booth to show and sell my new abstract series paintings, google maps had me take a road that no one should ever travel down. It was a 14 mile dirt road where the use of the word road was quite loose indeed.

About 2 miles in I realized I was in a bad place but I couldn’t turn around and had to keep going. I was in a 2002 minivan and this was by far a road that required high clearance and 4wd. After about 10 miles of white knuckle driving I got stuck and had to call 911. A local hunter came up behind me after a bit. He pulled out his shovel and jack, jacked my van up, dug it out, stacked rocks under my wheels and I was able to get out of that scrape only to run into the sheriff called in from my 911 call. After admonishing me a bit I followed him until he got stuck. The hunter was still there helped to dig his 4×4 out. I then also got stuck in that spot but both the sheriff and hunter helped me get out of that one.

I was able to make it to the retreat, set up and sell some of my work during that weekend. I was on the edge of not only giving up but thinking that my van would have to be destroyed to get out of those canyons but perseverance and a lot luck, and the act of a kind soul, got me through.

My van lasted all the way back home (200 miles) and then sprung oil leaks everywhere. But I made it.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Matching the right piece to the right owner is probably the most rewarding thing for me. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind a random person buying one of my pieces because the colors match their rug. But having someone walk up or call me and say something like, “that piece speaks to me and I need to have it on my wall.” Well that’s the best feeling in the world.

In fact recently I had a gentleman come to my booth with his family, one of his sons being on the spectrum. He pointed to one of my pieces and said “OMG, that’ is just the most amazing thing, I’ve been staring at it for a while now, how much is it?”

I told him how much and some him wince a little so I said, “hey for you I’ll sell it for xx.” He yelled “done” and went to the ATM. When he came back we talked about his son and how proud he was of him. Introduced him to me and it just made me know that even though the piece went for a lot less than my original asking price I knew it was going to the right home.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.MichaelWicksArt.com
• Instagram: michael_wicks_art
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MikeWicksPhotography