The "My Dream Is Working!" Story

It was an ordinary day. After heading out for my morning newspaper, I decided to, for some strange reason, check my mailbox. I know that my mail doesn't come until after lunch, but for some reason I felt I should check the mailbox. There was a Fed Ex mailing envelope in it with my name on it. Sealed, but not delivered by Fed Ex. They would never put any envelope in a US Postage mailbox. Opened it and was pleasantly surprised to see a Spring 2011 newspetter from the "Driendl Group". Hand printed across the top of the page one was: Hey Larry -- It's Jerry Driendl. Take a Look ...... My Dream is Working! Written in red ink. I have written in the past about former students that I have had in class, and Jerry was one of them. Jerry was an extremely talented artist when it came to photography, but he didn't find it necessary to pass most of his classes in school. He didn't qualify for graduation when he should have, and as he repeated his senior year at Manheim Township High School, the administration asked me if he could spend more time with me in my classroom during his senior year. Jerry spent mornings repeating the necessary classes needed for graduation while most every afternoons he was in my graphics room working on perfecting his photography. I gave him extra assignments that my normal photography classes did not have, primarily to keep him busy. By the time the National Art, Photography and Writing Competition contest rolled around the end of January, Jerry had an unbelievable amount of quality photography to be entered in the competition. So many photos that the local competition initiated an award just for him for having the most artwork accepted in the show. Somewhere over 100 photos were judged to be superior enough for show. He did so well at the local and national level his senior year that he received a full four-year paid scholarship to the Savannah School of Art and Design. Jerry was a hustler and he had a dream that someday he would get rich from his photography. He was that talented that he had me convinced that he could do it. It was only a matter of time. One of his photographs he did for one of my extra assignments was taken of an Amish buggy during a snow storm which he titled "Homeward Bound". He eventually had it printed in poster form and was one of his biggest sellers. After graduation, he entered Savannah, but after a short time started working in the photography industry. He started taking photos of city skylines. He told me that he figured that one thing that would sell in cities would be photos of that city, so he traveled around taking skyline shots of major cites. I invited him back to my classes often to talk to my students and try to instill in them his infectious attitude toward photography. After my youngest son graduated from Antonelli's School of Photography in Philadelphia, he went to work with Jerry, who by now had moved back to Lancaster and based his business in his home in Manheim Township. From time to time he would call me to tell me about his ideas of running a stock company. Taking photos that he could sell over and over to people that would use the photos in ads, billboards, magazines, etc. Wanted to know if I wanted to take photos he could use. Well, today, in my mailbox, I found that he is well on his way to his dream. I opened his website and realized he has over two dozen photographers that he submits photos for through his business. Jerry and his photographers that he has assembled, market their work strickly through The Getty Group. A word about The Getty Group from their website: Getty Images is the world’s leading creator and distributor of still imagery, footage and multi-media products, as well as a recognized provider of other forms of premium digital content, including music. Getty Images serves business customers in more than 100 countries and is the first place creative and media professionals turn to discover, purchase and manage images and other digital content. Its award-winning photographers and imagery help customers produce inspiring work which appears every day in the world’s most influential newspapers, magazines, advertising campaigns, films, television programs, books and websites. Visit Getty Images at http://www.gettyimages.com to learn more about how the company is advancing the unique role of digital media in communications and business, and enabling creative ideas to come to life. Jerry is now one of the top 40 photographers at Getty Images and is represented by National Geographic Society as well as Panoramic Images. One of his panoramic skyline images was featured on the cover of "Time Magazine" on August 12, 2002. He even had 41 pages of listings on Google! So you see, Jerry is making a believer out of me! His dream is working!! And ..... I guess it is time to really consider taking photos and being part of Driendl Group. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - pixs from the top are, cover of Jerry's newsletter, photo he took for my class that he had made into a poster, cover of "Time Magazine" featuring one of his NY skylines, and Getty Images poster when the Phillies won the 2008 World Series.