We had the good fortune of connecting with Lori Nagel (Sunflower) and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lori, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
Well, it wasn’t always this way! I actually spent the first 3 ½ decades of my life believing I wasn’t really that creative, but as it turned out, I just hadn’t found the right medium yet.

I have a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Computer Science and spent 11 years of my life working for IBM as a Certified Project Manager, managing multi-million-dollar global projects in my pajamas (well, not ALWAYS in my pj’s, but the option was always there for the last 7 years of that employment, since I worked a good portion of that from home and Zoom meetings didn’t yet exist).

So many people thought I had it made. My family was proud of me. Many were envious of my 8 weeks of paid vacation every year and plentiful income. But something was missing. It felt a little like that job was sucking my soul dry. I had a magnet on my fridge that said, “If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life!” I read that magnet often. I wondered what I loved that I could also make money from. I drew blank after blank after blank.

In 2007, I enrolled in some classes at Colorado Free University. It’s not free, but their classes are short, reasonably priced and taught by experts in their fields. I took classes in watercolor painting, cooking, meditating, playing pool, pottery and even one on how to travel the world while supporting your wanderlust! I honestly had no clue what I wanted to do with my life, but one thing I was pretty sure of was that I didn’t see myself being a lifetime IBMer.

In December of 2007, I took my cheap little point-and-shoot camera to my first photography class for beginners. It was taught by Greg Craddick, who was with a non-profit photography school & gallery called Working With Artists (WWA) that contracted with Colorado Free University. It was a 4-week class that met for a couple hours every Monday night, and it changed my life. Halfway through the class I bought my first DSLR camera, and proceeded to enroll in a lot more classes with WWA over the next few months. The classes were taught by amazing photographers who went to some of the best photography schools in the country, and they taught me SO MUCH. I started putting together portfolio books of my photos, showing them to whoever would look!

I spent six weeks in Sedona, Arizona that winter and spent another couple weeks in the spring road-tripping along the upper west coast, staying with friends along the way. I took pictures everywhere I went. Day photos, night photos, all different angles and zooms and lighting. I had found a new passion. The hardest part was figuring out how to turn it into a livelihood, since I had never NOT had a ‘job’ with guaranteed paychecks and benefits. I had no clue what I was doing, really. I limited conversations with my parents & siblings for about 3 months leading up to my departure from IBM, because I knew how proud of me they’d always been because I had that job, and I knew they would try to talk me out of it in a hundred different ways. When I gave my 2-week notice, my 2nd line manager tried to talk me out of quitting. My family thought I was crazy. One of my siblings asked me what I was going to do about health insurance and why couldn’t I just moonlight at photography for a while!?!? I knew I had to follow my heart and give it my all.

I cashed in my pension and 401K. I volunteered at the WWA gallery, which gave me $10/hour towards the cost of classes. I worked side-by-side with so many amazing artists and took as many classes as possible. I helped start the WWA Photography Club and was on the board. I invested in the equipment I needed.

Early in 2010, as money was starting to dwindle, I got pregnant. I got a job with an in-bound telemarketing company, I was a canvasser for Greenpeace, and I went door-to-door working for the 2010 Census people. We moved to my uncle’s land near Crestone in May of 2010. There were many times we were very tight financially those first couple years of my son’s life while I was trying to build up my new business in a brand new town. I would sporadically get cleaning jobs. I applied at the post office. It cost $10 in gas to get to town and sometimes I’d only have $1 in my wallet, not knowing where the next dollars were coming from. I was grateful for food stamps. I was definitely wondering if I’d made a huge mistake, leaving the corporate world in order to pursue a more creative life…

Fast forward to 2023. I now support myself and my son with photography, graphic design, web design, video editing, photojournalism, and my FAA drone pilot certification. I have lots of happy clients who I’ve worked with over the years who I’ve come to love dearly, always enjoying our interactions. I shoot real estate photos & videos for most of the local realtors. I’ve been the staff photographer for our monthly local newspaper, The Crestone Eagle, since 2012; and have had a full-page column in there since 2016 called, “Out & About with Lori Sunflower” where I interview 6-10 people every month about a different topic and publish their verbatim answers with their photos. I also photograph most of our big events in town and then often create half or full-page collages of pictures for the Eagle.

So, I did it. I’m now spending my days doing work that I love doing for the best clients ever, and most of the time it doesn’t feel like work at all. I’m so grateful that magnet was on my refrigerator, and I don’t miss IBM even a little bit!

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
The first thing that comes to mind is balance. I strive for balance in the photos I take, the graphic design materials I create and the websites I produce; and I’m usually very meticulous about the smallest little details. Whenever I take a photo, especially real estate and scenics, my eye is constantly darting around behind the viewfinder, balancing out the composition and/or angles, making sure nothing wonky is sticking into the corner of my image. I’m such a perfectionist when I shoot houses that I take anywhere from 1-10 photos from one corner of a room until I get just the right angle and lighting. I always shoot in manual, so I often adjust my shutter speed, F-stop, ISO and flash to get the lighting just right; and I shoot everything in RAW format, so I have a lot of flexibility in post-process.

In addition to the technical side of photography, I believe there’s such an art to taking people pictures. So many people have told me over the years that people always look so good in my photos; so natural, and/or like they’re having so much fun. Most importantly, so many have told me that I often catch the essence of people when I photograph them, creating images they’re proud to share with friends and family. I think it’s important to be real with people and to help them to feel comfortable in front of the camera. When I’m taking headshots for someone’s business, I encourage them to really feel in their heart who they’d most like to help in this world because I believe whatever we’re feeling in our heart comes through in our eyes. I tell them jokes or funny stories. I put my all into every single shoot.

I now have a portfolio that I’m so proud of. Sometimes I just go to the home page on my website and watch the slideshow of photos on there, the memories of each shoot flooding back to me as the images scroll by. I’ve been fortunate to have so many opportunities to photograph some truly creative people who’ve come up with some truly magnificent costumes and settings; and for that – for all of them – I am so extremely grateful.

It wasn’t always easy on this journey, but it’s been worth it! When we struggled financially, I had to ask for help a few times and was so thankful I received it. I’ve been humbled in so many ways these last few years and have worked with people from all walks of life. I’ve learned so much and continue to learn every single day – from my son, from my peers and from random strangers, either in person or on the web. Teachers are everywhere! And the more I learn, the more I realize I don’t know…

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live in Crestone, which is definitely NOT a city, or usually very exciting, unless of course you feel that seeing wildlife on a daily basis counts as exciting. Lol

This place definitely IS a great place to be a photographer and drone pilot, as we have 14,000’ mountains, creeks, canyons, fantastical sunsets and super dark, star-filled night skies where you see the Milky Way often and the meteor showers are magnificent. A lot of visitors go camping, hiking, horseback riding, fishing, or just find a creek to sit next to and have a picnic. We have only 3 restaurants to choose from in town, with varying hours; no fast food; and if you want to cook at home (or your BnB), you have to prepare a little because both of our grocery stores close at 7pm.

The majority of Crestone residents are artists, musicians and healers, and if you’re looking for exciting things to distract you, this is generally not the place to be. We do have some pretty amazing outdoor festivals a few times a year, including our Crestone Music Festival, Crestone Energy Fair & our 4th of July celebration, all with amazing live music & dancing, performances, vending and various other activities and presentations.
We have over 20 spiritual centers here and about 2500 residents who inhabit the town and its neighboring Baca Grande subdivision, give or take a few hundred. This is a place where people come to heal. Many of our “tourists” are spiritual retreatants. Our community is definitely unique in many ways, and people generally either really love it or they really, really hate it!

Some strange things have also recently happened in Crestone, including being invaded by a crazy cult, but most of us locals really disliked the fact that they chose this place as their “stomping grounds” for those couple/few years.

And regarding the trip being a week-long one.. honestly, it probably takes a good week or so to just get that city buzz out of your system and settle into the peacefulness of Crestone.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I definitely agree! The first person who comes to mind is my son, who was born in 2010 and who has been so patient while I’ve been busy taking lots of photos and building my clientele in Crestone these last 13 years, while simultaneously being a single parent to him. We’ve never gotten any child support, so it’s gotten pretty tough at times, but he has been very understanding and loving, and I’m so grateful to have him in my life!

Two people I’d also like to thank are my parents, who provided me with a solid foundation, not only with education, but all with compassion, empathy, good morals and solid work ethics. They’ve always been supportive and helped give me the confidence to accomplish many things in my life, even when they didn’t necessarily agree with all my choices. 😉

And finally, there were multitudes of mentors who came into my life at just the right moments when I was getting ready to leave my 11-year ‘career’ at IBM in 2008, with my plans to go into business as a self-employed photographer. During that very scary transition in my life, one very inspiring person who graced my life was Tama Kieves, who I was lucky enough to know in person, and who wrote a book called “This Time I Dance! CREATING THE WORK YOU LOVE” which says on the front cover: “If you’re this successful doing work you don’t love, what could you do with work you do love?” That quote lit a fire in me and reading her book was truly a life-changing experience, helping me gain the courage I needed to transition out of the corporate world.

Website: sunflowerstudios.us.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sunflowerstudios.lori

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQjjWClBG–hkdA20Stem8Q

Image Credits
All photos & collages by Lori Nagel, except for the photo OF Lori, which was taken by her son, Ziggy Eilets.

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