My Interview with BoldJourney.com
If you would rather read it on their site with the imagery just visit: https://boldjourney.com/life-values-legacy-our-chat-with-troy-seven-timberlake-of-ellicott-city-maryland-highlight/
We recently had the chance to connect with Troy “Seven” Timberlake and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Seven, thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: Are you walking a path—or wandering?
Are you walking a path—or wandering?…. umm “Yes!” I am walking a path AND wandering!
I believe the wandering is what highlights the path. Everyone can pick a direction to move in but even while walking you should still wander (and wonder)…. otherwise you are walking a path with blindfolds on. It’s the wandering and questioning that redefines for you the path you are on. Perhaps that wander gives you a nudge (a thought) that makes the path easier to walk or changes the end point as it redefines the goal or what “success” is to you. I guess what I’m trying to say is that the wandering is just as important as being on the path. The wandering can reaffirm why you are on the path or help you see another path (opportunity) that may be more suited for you. To not wander would mean that you think you know everything there is to know about being on a path….. in which case, well you wouldn’t even be on a path anymore. You would’ve arrived and your life would be potentially miserable in ways you can’t even predict. Always choose to wander/wonder. I guess what I am saying is everyone should accept that it’s a journey.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Troy (most people call me Seven) and I am a photographer. There is absolutely nothing more special about me than anyone else. I’ve had some interesting & unique experiences in life that allow me to tell great stories and draw from the lessons of those experiences. So what makes us all special in my mind is when we tell our stories together! This is one of my favorite things to do….late night/early morning chats about everything under the Sun. As for work, my clients know that I will go above and beyond their expectations to help convey or tell their story photographically whether that is in a portrait or campaign. Currently (literally right now!) I am working on catching up on some personal work. I am going over images from my travels in the hopes of one day printing them and having a wall in my home dedicated to roaming and the memories from the locations I visited.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who taught you the most about work?
Easy, that would be my parents. My mother was a public school teacher in Maryland and my father, though a hobbyist photographer, worked for the FDA. Just by their examples they taught me about work.
My mother was one of the teachers that would spend a good amount of her paychecks on the needs of the kids in her classes. She was passionate about children and their education! Her students loved her and the day she announced her retirement a special county grief team had to be called to her school to console the very upset children as well as explain to their parents what had happened. After retiring she put her focus on her tutoring center where she could help kids in the way she wanted to without the red tape of the public school system. My father, he would leave for the office very early, never complaining and moaning. In fact, I think he liked getting out early and beating D.C. rush hour traffic. So I learned that I should be passionate about what I do from my mother and ‘if you’re not early you are late’ from my father but to also have a job that I won’t moan about. In fact for my recent shoot one state over I left home at 5:30am and arrived their about 6:45am….. about an hour and 15 minutes early but I was not going to let that D.C. Beltway traffic get the best of me! Instead I grabbled breakfast and caught up with a Brother of mine on the phone until my client arrived.
When did you last change your mind about something important?
Okay, there were some good questions here so instead of just choosing one to answer I’m going to try and run all these bases
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
-Absolutely and with many things! In fact there were things I definitely did give up on too! Isn’t that part of the lesson though? To know when you’ve taken something as far as it can go and knowing when to move on. I think the real question would be “why did you give up?” and there would be right and wrong within the answers.
What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
-I keep A LOT bottled in and usually focus on helping others… So who knows if I have “healed them” or just kept taking small bites out of them until they eventually aren’t major wounds anymore. That’s as far as we will go into that question though!
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
-To appreciate all of the lessons…. The good and the bad ones because the true tragedy is in the repetition of not learning the lesson.
When did you stop hiding your pain and start using it as power?
-Maybe since before I can remember. Though usually people just see it as power while not considering its origin.
What fear has held you back the most in your life?
-Spiders….. nope! No rain forests or anything like that. When asked to travel Google is my first stop before giving an answer.
When you were sad or scared as a child, what helped?
-Working the stick shift on my dad’s baby blue convertible VW Karmann Ghia while he drove.
Do you remember a time someone truly listened to you?
-I’ve got great friends….. though they probably wish I’d talk more about what’s in my head.
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
-“Be Here right Now” it’s all going to fly by. I didn’t learn this til later in life.
Is there something you miss that no one else knows about?
-Nothing that I can think of… nothing that no one knows about.
What’s something you changed your mind about after failing hard?
-Trusting that everyone has good intentions.
When did you last change your mind about something important?
-Just this week. It’s probably pretty common for me to do this.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
Staying up until sunrise and talking. Making memories like it’s the last day of our lives. Being in the Here & Now. ( I have a whole speech for when they try to go to bed before 4am when we are out)
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. Are you tap dancing to work? Have you been that level of excited at any point in your career? If so, please tell us about those days.
I’m going to try and ignore the fact that I did actually tap dance in my past and I’m still absolutely! excited about what I get to do.
Honestly that qualifies for just about every shoot day. Okay, maybe not product shoots but those are few and far between. Otherwise even before the figurative tap dancing starts I still have trouble sleeping the night before shoots because I’m so excited. It’s been like this for decades! My thoughts while trying to sleep range from the creative concept to the checklist for the shoot and then eventually to the thought ‘tomorrow I am getting paid to play with light, texture and form’. They are paying ME to do XYZ … could it get any better?!
I’m told that my “work” talk is very infectious and has encouraged more than a few people to pick up a camera and try. I usually tell people that I don’t have a job…. I have an adventure!
Contact Info: