David Valdez-Photography Career continued...

In September 1971, I received an honorable discharge from the United States Air Force. I left McDill AFB in Tampa, Florida where I had been stationed and went straight to the University of Texas in El Paso, Texas. I was 21 years old and had completed my first 2 years of college at the University of Tampa while I was in the Air Force. It was a bit of a culture shock leaving the military and going directly into college full time. Having grown up as a "military brat" this was really my first time in a full civilian environment. I spent one semester there and then made the decision to move to Oxon Hill, Maryland where my parents had moved. There I enrolled at the Universtiy of Maryland in College Park. I also needed a job. I never really thought I would be a photographer in my new civilian life but when I went looking for work the only skills I had were my 4 years as an Air Force photogrpaher. My first job was with Dunlap Studios in Washington, DC as a color printer. I printed thousands of professioanl color prints mostly for advertising and marketing clients. I was there about a year when I landed a job as a photo lab technition with the United States Department of Agriculture. Who would have thought that would be a place for professional photography, but I learned that the Farm Security photographers from the depression era had worked for the Agriculture Dept. Roy Stryker was the Director who hired photographers such as Walker Evans and  Dorothea Lange. While working at the Department of Agriculture, I realized I could be a full time professioanl photographer. Even though I had been hired at the Department of Agriculture as a photo lab technition I volunteered to do any photo assignment that was available to me. That lead to doing official portraits in the studio and that evolved into doing most of the still life work in the studio. I learned to just jump in and figure out things as I went along. I also asked lots of questions and was not affraid to let people know I needed help or advice. That led to my offering to help mentor young people who worked for me years later.