Hello Media Lab

ABOUT JOHN PAVLISH

John: What inspired me to finally get my own first camera as a point and shoot was to capture the graduation from college at MIT. I had no idea how to use the camera, and would only use the auto settings. But I have an inquiring mind and was determined to learn how to use the camera.

What I loved about a camera was the ability to capture moments of life that you could never go back with them. In that sense, a camera is a time machine that allows you capture precious moments of life.

More importantly, I started wanting to take more photos than I ever did before. The camera was a tool that helped me observe the world in a mean that I had never tried to spent the time before.

Who are you?

My name is John Pavlish.

Tell me about your childhood in the Puget Sound.

I was born in Bellevue and lived there when I was young.
My family had then returned back to the Puget Sound while I was in middle school. I was not quite as lucky as a kid, as my family had moved a few times during my childhood. When I returned back to the East Side/Issaquah, I had to rebuild friendship as I didn’t have any friends in the area. During middle school, it becomes harder for new kids to build friends. My escape was to get into reading, and I was quite voracious.
What did you enjoy when you were living around here?

When I was young, I loved and still love the sound of the rain in the northwest. When it would be raining during the night, I would grab a pillow and blanket and fall asleep in my bathroom. In my bathroom we had a skylight, which made it easier to listen to the rain. The gentle sound of the water drops falling in the window found me extremely soothing and relaxing.
What impact you the most?

What impacted me the most was the damage from the stroke. The injury had changed the trajectory of my life.

What challenges have you faced that you overcome?

The largest challenge was a near death experience I had. When I was a student in college during finals in December on my senior year, I had gotten sick from what I thought was a common cold. The symptoms had escalated into external symptoms like a bloody nose, and bleeding canker sores in my mouth. My main focus was preparing for finals during the semester, and felt that I would focus on my body after the exams. What gave me pause was a notice of my urine had also turned into blood while I was studying in the later hours. I then went to the hospital, where it took the doctors trying to understand what happened to me. During that night, I lost conscious by the most excruciating headache I ever had in my life.

The pain was caused from a hemorrhagic stroke which damaged my left temporal and occipital lobes in my brain. These areas of the brain are used for language and sight respectively. I had spent 18 months of relearning English. There was a point my reading was at a 5th grade level. There was a point I had to relearn the alphabet again. Even still to this day I am partially blind in my right peripheral vision from the stroke.
After the 18 months of therapy I had re-enrolled back at MIT and was able to graduate despite having less brain than when I started.

What was your favorite stores and places in the Puget Sound?

As a kid – Snoqualmie Falls, Ruby Beach, taking ferry ride in the Puget Sound, Woodland Park Zoo, and Butchard Garden (if you count Canada).
As an adult – I started to appreciate music and would love to go to Jazz Alley and the Benaroya Hall. I also had never visited Mount Rainier until I was an adult. I felt like I missed something so iconic in the northwest. Another cool place was Blowing Sand in Ballard. They allow you to create your own glass pieces.

What is your field? Tell me about your expertise.

My degree was in material science engineering, but I now work in photography for stock agencies. I have spent time honing my craft by slowly improving the weakest points of my photography. What is helpful is by keeping your worst pictures and keep them in a folder to review them. I use this for agencies but also ones that I recognize myself. It helps you to improve and work on your weakness.
I am now in the process of creating educational videos on YouTube to help others who want to improve their photography through the means of editing them through software. You can take a look at some videos on my YouTube channel.

What is your life mission? How did you develop into the person you are now?

My life mission is to make a legacy of knowledge and experience that I have gained over the years. It has been not just through photography, but also from the means of composing passages, maintain a blog, authoring books.
I’ve debated whether a person changes much from birth. In some degree I am still the same person that I was when I was young by exploring the environment that I live. Some early sentences that I was quoted as a young child were “what is underneath the skin?” or “do you notice how everything has a light source?” I always observe the world and try to understand it.

FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS

What makes you happy?

Some of the experiences that I’ve had are feeling aligned with the universe. Some of the most magical experiences I’ve had are on times when I explored areas where I was scared to try. I was scared to explore other countries such as Indonesia or Italy. I was afraid to go to countries I’ve never explored but I had moments where I had the energy to experience like wake up early for sunrise in a temple or a volcano. It’s a zen experiencing feeling the scope of the earth and now small you are in perspective with your life to the that of the world.

What is happiness to you?

Happiness is when you feel aligned with your perspective of the universe by understanding your talent and how to contribute your energy for the universe leaving an impact for others. Your role of the universe is that of a piece of thread in a large tapestry.