Photography is a difficult medium to master. There’s one man in the Region, however, who’s always dabbling in the craft: John Palmer. His actual job doesn’t have much to do with taking photos, as he’s the operations manager for a company in Chicago called Pinnacle Yachts. That’s no matter, though, considering that he frequently snaps all kinds of shots around Valparaiso.
Palmer grew up in a small town called Carson City, Michigan. As soon as he graduated, he ended up joining the United States Coast Guard, where he became a mechanic. Quite a bit of time passed before he moved to Indiana, but his journey swiftly transformed itself into a well-rounded one. It has brought him to where he belongs.
“I served for 15 years, from 2000 to 2015. I was first stationed in Dollar Bay, Michigan, at a search-and-rescue station on Lake Superior. Then I went to the Icebreaker Mackinaw, commissioning that boat, and that left me in Cheboygan, Michigan. From there, I moved to Maine and was out there for three years. I soon moved to Valparaiso from Maine, and my family and I decided we liked the area. We liked the schools and didn't want to move the kids around anymore, so it all kind of worked out, thankfully,” he said.
Palmer comes from a family with a rich military history, so he thought his decision to serve was a natural one. Seeing his sister serve also granted him a glimpse into what life in the military is all about. Fortunately, knowing someone in the area who worked for Pinnacle Yachts led to his eventual assumption of the role he holds today.
Before he seized the position, there was some back-and-forth within Palmer’s own mind. He had the option of becoming a police officer, but as luck would have it, a position at the company opened. Now it’s wholly clear that he’s found a way to meaningfully utilize all of his experiences in the coast guard for the sake of a job that has quickly marked itself as being a whole lot of fun.
“A friend of mine was a captain at Pinnacle, and I had mentioned to her that I was looking at getting out of the coast guard. There happened to be another employee who apparently had just put in his two-week notice, so she wrote me an email asking for my resume. I basically ended up getting the job before I ever even got out of the coast guard, which was an ideal thing,” he said.
Palmer seemingly conquered with ease all of the stressors that came with looking for a new job at the age of 35. That’s not to say that the search came without its challenges.
One thing that’s never been tricky for him to grasp is his passion for photography, something he’s carried for almost all of his life; it’s been a hobby of his since he was eight years old. A family member introduced him to the art. Now, he spends as much time as he can spare with a camera in his hand, chasing the chance of capturing the next great shot by visiting various locations and events.
“My grandfather once gave me a camera that didn't work when I was younger. It was an old Fuji 35-millimeter camera. He promised me that I could have it if I got it to work. I took it apart and put it back together, having no clue what I did, then it eventually started working. That got me going with buying film, as well as that excitement you get from running to the store once your film develops to see what turned out. Once I had kids, I started photographing their sports, and other parents would ask, ‘Hey, do you mind getting pictures of my children?’ Then I fell in love with doing sports photography and even shooting things that my kids weren't involved in,” he said.
Photography affords Palmer the opportunity to see the respective progression of each of his four children. Viewing the development of their competitiveness and passions is another one of his favorite things about the stories a few simple pictures can tell. He regularly uploads much of his work to his Facebook page, and the change in seasons assists him in not having to remain stagnant with the shots he takes. Every aspect of photography is what drives him to keep up with it—the angles, dimensions, subjects, and all other components of photography.
Although photography leaves Palmer in a perpetual state of zen, he finds joy in the straightforward pleasures that come with being a father. He’ll often play basketball in the driveway with his children and delights in any sort of vacation he and his family go on, including the frequent visits they take to their spot in Hilton Head, South Carolina. A mechanic by trade, he owns a 1988 Corvette that he likes to work on.
It took a fair amount of research on Palmer’s end in order for him to understand that moving to Valparaiso a few years back was a beneficial move for both him and his family. Everything has worked out for the better.
“I absolutely love the community, for sure. I moved to Valparaiso from Maine. I just started doing research online. I knew when I was getting stationed in Chicago that I didn’t want to live there, but I didn’t know where else to go at first. After talking with a bunch of people, everything started pointing toward Valparaiso. As soon as we drove into Valparaiso, we were like, ‘This place is absolutely gorgeous!’ We fell in love with it from the moment we drove in. The longer we've been here, the more we’ve discovered,” he said.
If you would like to find out more information about Palmer’s photography, you can visit his website at this link: palmerphotography.smugmug.com.