Today we’d like to introduce you to Brett Koch.
Hi Brett, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I grew up in a very rural part of Virginia in the 90s and went to school through second grade in a private two-room k-12 schoolhouse.
Not having much as a kid in that kind of small farming community I joyfully spent my days outside exploring and enjoying the land around my home, taking photos with my uncle’s Polaroid camera, and then drawing/ painting on my plastic Fischer Price easel in my room. Recess at that school consisted of an hour of limited supervision outdoor play and exploring the woods directly behind the school, something that would certainly seem foreign today. Looking back I find it so incredible that all of those things had such a profound and lasting impact on my life.
I eventually moved to a public school system and continued exploring multiple art mediums. I spent a portion of my senior summer with some of my graduating classmates, teachers, and chaperones on a foreign language trip to Italy and Greece where I was gifted my first real DSLR digital camera to take with me. I ecstatically returned with almost 1,000 photos that I quickly turned into Koch Select Imagery.
I turned my humble rural beginnings and love for travel and nature into a career as a National Park Ranger and I do all that I can in my day job to protect our country’s wonderful places and help people enjoy them safely as well! I travel as much as I can and in my off time away from work continue my passion for photography. I hope to inspire people to enjoy the wonders of this world themselves through my Instagram posts and photography website.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My journey has not always been a smooth one and I struggled with many of the same challenges as others, like trying to find the funds to stay in college, but the journey has been nothing short of incredible and I have enjoyed it! Everything has found a way to work out and even the challenges have often come with wonderful opportunities on the other side of them.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am and always have considered myself first and foremost to be a photographer despite also working with charcoal, oils, pastels, film, prints, and ceramics. Being able to capture the beauty you see with your eyes in a way that you can share in real-time with others is really special and something I have always loved doing.
My focus is on landscapes with the great Ansel Adams as my inspiration, but over the years I have tried to expand my work to include underwater photography and overall travel shots as well. I am most proud of the moments where I can see someone’s eyes light up when they see a photo I have worked on and hear them say how they would love to travel to that place as well. It inspires conversation, new friendships, and hopefully for others to travel places that make them happy as well.
I believe what sets me apart from others is not only do I have an opportunity to capture some of our nation’s most beautiful places, but I am also often intimately familiar with them which for me makes the photos even more special. I simply wish to inspire others to explore and enjoy all these beautiful places as well.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
One of the hardest but most important lessons I have learned along the way is how to let life work the way it needs to, not the way I want it to. At an ever-increasing pace, we are programmed to want certain things by a certain part of our lives and sometimes that’s not always in the cards, and that’s okay!
Enjoy this great adventure of life, all its twists, and turns, and learn from the many opportunities and lessons along the way. I have truly enjoyed capturing and sharing these special moments for others to see and I hope it inspires others to do the same!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kochselectimagery.com
- Instagram: @bkranging
- Facebook: Koch Selet Imagery
