Brain Damage

I was a successful photographer for many years before becoming a filmmaker. My work appeared in Martha Stewart and Real Simple. Business was booming.

But I was in a creative rut, bored creatively and constantly fantasizing about my secret love affair with moving images. I wanted to make films. I talked about making films. I thought about making films. I just wasn’t actually making films. 

Until I broke my brain.

To be fair, a very rare postpartum condition broke my brain. After the birth of my daughter, my brain swelled, causing three months of terrible headaches, lost balance and the inability to recall random words. I couldn’t drive (I had bruises from bumping into walls and furniture). I barely left the house. I couldn’t produce the words “pastrami” and “xylophone” no matter how hard I tried.

It probably sounds cliche, but that brain injury was my wakeup call. I closed my photography studio and started making movies — really klunky movies at first. But with every movie I made, I learned.

That’s the only way to grow, by diving in and doing. By saying “yes” to projects and ideas that challenge us. This attitude and way of thinking is something I still bring to all of my work.

As for my brain? My neurologist assured me that the swelling would subside and I would return to normal. Medically, that happened. I think ;)