I'ma let you in on a little secret: I'm kinda feeling like one of these three photos at the moment. They're all from the same roll of black and white film I'd shot in downtown Tulsa last month.
There's the gorgeous, tall, and gleaming building that, I'm assuming, is filled with highly qualified and credentialed professionals. They're the ones who, I'm guessing, wear suits and ties to work everyday. Not sure if there's white-shoe firms here in Oklahoma, but I'm guessing they'd be in a building like this.
Then there's the shorter, stockier brick buildings with the ornate trim on top. I'd guess the people working in these buildings are no less qualified than the armies of people working in that first building, but I'd guess it's a bit more business casual. There's probably whiteboards and dry erase markers scattered around the open floor plans with row after row of iMacs. I'm sure there's a few old school law or accounting offices mixed in there too with bad lighting and worn out carpet.
Finally, there's this lunchable sized billboard / light pole hybrid on the edge of downtown. No clue what's on the other side, but it's probably something like an ad for a pot dispensary or a lawyer who's most likely not working in either of those other two buildings. I'd assume both of those lights work seeing as how the glass isn't broken out, but you can tell that whole thing has seen better days. It could use a coat of paint, but it seems pretty low maintenance and is doing the thing. It's like that Simpson's meme of Homer in his underware, looking fit and trim, standing in front of Marge, but the reverse shot has all his back fat pulled back tight with a chip clip and straining rubber band.
That's me at the moment. I'm that light pole pulling double duty with those budget ads on my chest trying to prove that I'm suppose to be here.
What the actual fuck am I doing? How is it that I'm choosing to focus two years of my professional life as a creative in pursuit of a graduate level business degree? I've got this repeating memory bouncing around in my head of a conversation I'd had with a filmmaker I absolutely admire. I'd gotten a chance to talk to him during a conference years ago and told him about wanting to get an MBA one day. He looked at me like I had hot turds smeared on my face. "Why wouldn't you go for something in cinematography? At least something film related..."
Honestly, I'm super stoked about it. Even shitty magicians can be impressive if they have one trick that catches you off guard.
My MBA classes at the University of Oklahoma start later this month and we've already had a couple different interactions as incoming students. I'm already inspired by the people I've met and most of us are coming from very different careers and walks of life. Along with the business, finance, and economic professionals I'd expected, there's a surprising amount of incoming MBA students in my cohort who are medical doctors, engineers, lawyers, and those with military backgrounds.
In the conversations I've had so far with other incoming students, one was with a young pediatrician and his wife who were from Toronto. We got to the "So why you getting an MBA?" part and he talked about feeling creatively choked off with the restricted nature of his work as a doctor. He's hoping the additional education will open up other opportunities down the road. Some of the others planed to move into more leadership focused roles within their companies or captain their own entrepreneurial ships.
Seems like everyone I'd talked to so far wanted more than what they had at the moment. Even though I'm still feeling like I snuck in the side door, I'm no different in wanting the same more they each talked about.