Toni, how wonderful! I deeply admire good photographers, for all that I don't own a camera. Portraits are my favorite art form, I think, from painters (Eakins, Sargent, Rembrandt) to photographers. It also explains why I love dolls so much. While you're smart to keep your day job, it's so great that you're also maintaining and progressing in your photography. Most of my artistic friends do the same thing. I have one co-worker at our office whose "moonlight profession" is singing. You can imagine he's not going to be able to support himself on it anytime soon, but he devotes himself equally to both jobs and is equally superb at both. I think that being "bilingual" like that enriches both sides of someone's life.
Oh, here's a photographer's question for you: if you could have any skater or skaters to "sit" (so to speak) for a portrait, whom would you choose? (You don't have to choose current skaters; there's always someone like Marina Klimova!) And would you shoot in black and white or color?
