Meet Olaf Growald | Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Olaf Growald and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Olaf, how do you think about risk?
I started out as a studio assistant to a well known studio photographer. He taught me a lot, back in the good old film days. He never allowed me to touch a camera until I had done 1 year in a darkroom. After I had done my time and had a few more years under my belt, I told my boss that I wanted to be a photojournalist. Instead of getting encouragement, he berated me and told me I would never be good enough, so I quit. On the spot. I went out and shot a brand new portfolio including sports, local news, spot news and portraits.

I then went to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram within a week and interviewed with them. I showed my portfolio (which was transparencies or slides in large format) and was given one assignment. I shot it, came back and they decided to start using me a “Stringer” or freelance shooter. I was off to the official start as a photojournalist.

If I had never taken the huge risk and believed in myself, my abilities, I would have never got hired as a staff photographer. To this day that photographer and I patched up our differences and are still friends to this day.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I started out as a freelance photographer, got my dream job as a photojournalist. Ten years of freelancing and on staff. I became disillusioned at what I was doing, covering so much hard news; fires, car wrecks, deaths, etc. I had a knack for bringing back some pretty great images.

When I would bring back my images for the editors, all they asked was ” Wheres all the good stuff?”. They meant all the blood and gore photos. Finally I couldn’t take it anymore and quit. I felt a calling to something else.

I had been riding out with a specific fire department for months, allowed unprecedented access to all sorts of things. The Fire Chief at the time saw something in me; he asked me if I was interested in maybe taking an EMT Basic course, “to see what it was all about”. Sort of a dare. I did. I went on to become a firefighter/Paramedic for 12 years. I used my photography in some really great new ways as well. I shot for many fire department’s as well as the one I worked at.My photos were used for training, media handouts, portraits, etc. I had successfully transitioned and included my previous career. But it was not menat to last. I was injured and could not work as FF/P anymore. It was heartbreaking to me, but I had no choice. The doctor who I was seeing at the time for treatment and rehab asked me if I had an other career to fall back on. I did. Photography. But it was a really long, hard road reinventing myself.

I had been out of “The Game” for a long time. So I didn’t go back to journalism. I reinvented myself at the time as a “Social Media Content Provider” which no one had heard of at the time. It worked well for me and I went on to provide several large clients large libraries of images that some still use to this day. Returning to photography full time was like coming home and I am still reinventing myself.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Well, Fort Worth has some great food and locations that are pretty great. I would take them on a BBQ tour, visit the Northside or “The Stockyards” where the could see a real rodeo, real cowboys, horses and livestock.

Then I would tour our local museums which are world class: The Kimbell, The Modern and The Amon Carter.

Fort Worth’s Near Southside offers some of the best and newest dining and shopping, so a stop there is a must. Depending on the time of year, Fort Worth offers its famous Zoo as well. If they want excercise, cycling along the Trinty River is great. Miles and miles of beautiful scenery.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Larry Price, the Director of Photography in the early 90’s For the For Worth Star-Telegram, gave me my first real chance at being a photojournalist. He encouraged me, edited my film, helped me make sense of how to start forming my “style”.

I was at a large national tragedy (Oklahoma City Bombing), I had shot several roles, brought them back, got them developed and showed him (I was still freelance at the time). He looked them over, singled out a few that would go on to run in the newspaper above the fold half page images, then looked at me and told me that from now on I would be taken care of by the paper. I felt elation at this! I felt as if I had proved myself as competent and got a positive response from someone I respected highly. He was a mentor, editor and I considered him a friend. If not for him taking several chances on me, I would have had a much different outcome in my career.

Website: www.growaldphotography.com

Instagram: @ogrowald

Image Credits
Olaf Growald