One of the reasons why I decided to start blogging is because I am an avid storyteller and I love to write, and I would love to share my story with the world. And since I'm rather new to the blogosphere, I feel I need to introduce myself, so the first story that I will be telling is mine:

Hi, i'm Tora: photographer, daydreamer and committed overachiever, and I live in this crazy, beautiful mess of a city we call Montreal. Romanian of origin, I moved to Canada 8 years ago, armed with big dreams and hungry to do something with my life. I started business school right away, finished it and worked in the corporate world until not long ago. 

The photography bug creeped up on me over the years, slowly, taking its time, first through Photoshop, and just having fun seeing what my camera can do, until one day i was asked to take photos at this festival in Romania. That was it. My Evrika! moment. I was also in a soul searching moment of my life. I decided to try the creative path, so I applied to Dawson College's night program in commercial photography. And that's how i found myself in complete workaholic mode, with a full time job and full time school, and a very active social life on top of that. I wanted it all and I just had an ambition that was more of a constant adrenaline rush, and I sacrificed sleep (a lot), but I made it all possible (I wouldn't recommend it though, I was burned out in the end). But then photo school was over, and I found myself at a crossroads....

It took me a while to make the decision, but deep down I always knew what I needed to do. I was working in the corporate world, classic 9-5 career story, good job, good pay, amazing office with an insane view of downtown Montreal.  But something was definitely missing. And the though that pretty much this will be the rest of my life was far more terrifying than jumping into the uncertainty of being a creative professional. So...I jumped...The day I handed in my resignation letter I had the same adrenaline rush as when I was way up high on a crane above Bucharest getting ready for a bungee jump.

And it took me a while to get accustomed to the change. My first post 9 to 5 days found me as an anxious mess, completely overwhelmed by the decision i had taken, and by insecurities. But truth is, my reaction wasn't to the change in circumstances, but to my change in identity. All my life I used to see myself as the office chick, corporate woman, with my ambitions to work hard and climb up the corporate ladder over the years and with my overstacked wardrobe of office outfits. I was Teodora; that's my legal name, and in the corporate world that was my name and identity. 

Well...now I'm Tora (my parents called me/nicknamed me Tora since I was born, all my family and friends know me as Tora) and I'm a photographer and freelancer; a whole new approach to life. It's hard, it's amazing, it's never ending work, but it's not really work, is it? And I am just at the beginning of my journey, hopeful, nervous, but really really determined.

There is no time more scary exciting than this....

To be continued...just hold on tight.