CIBOLA COUNTY, N.M. – Eric O’Connell grew up in Cibola County and graduated from Grants High School in 1986. According to O’Connell, growing up in Cibola County was very enjoyable. He enjoyed the area and having fun in the surroundings of nature. Now, O’Connell is a well-established photographer, who recently won an award for a collection of photographs featuring his very own parents and current Cibola County locals, Mike O’Connell and Dena O’Connell.
O’Connell said that he has loved photography from the young age of 16 years old. Upon graduating high school, O’Connell attended the University of New Mexico, took a photography course, and he was “hooked.” O’Connell eventually transferred to New Mexico State University and made it a point to take a photography-related course every semester from then on out. O’Connell received a degree in journalism with an emphasis in photojournalism.
According to O’Connell, the journey from small town kid to established photographer was a long one, but he just constantly worked at it. O’Connell served as a photo editor for NMSU’s newspaper, a freelance photographer for local magazines and the Albuquerque Journal, a “stringer” for the Associated Press, lab tech for the Marietta Daily Journal in Georgia, intern for Outside magazine, and an assistant/apprentice for a well-known New York photographer. Essentially, O’Connell gained as much experience as he could, met as many people as he could, and took as many opportunities as he could. This constant growth and exposure ended up opening some doors for O’Connell that he used to leverage himself to be the photographer he is now.
O’Connell has lived everywhere, from Albuquerque, to San Francisco, to New York, to Los Angeles, and now Flagstaff, Arizona. O’Connell is currently instructing photography courses at Northern Arizona University there in-Flagstaff, while also continuing his personal photography work. O’Connell has worked as a commercial photographer with companies/entities such as Monrovia, Ford, Oracle, Ritz Carlton, Quicken, and many more. He also participates in competitions now and then, whenever he gets the chance.
For the year of 2021, O’Connell had the opportunity to enter his photography work into a competition called Off the Clock. It is through that competition that O’Connell was able to earn a Best of Show award for a series of photographs featuring his parents. Three Best of Show awards were given, and O’Connell was one of the three selected, out of a total of about 100 entries. The award-winning series featured his parents and highlighted a theme of isolation. When brainstorming for ideas, O’Connell saw a parallel between the isolation that the elderly experience as they grow older and the isolation the world has experienced in the past year. O’Connell decided to combine the two ideas and take photographs showcasing them.
According to O’Connell, his parents have always been willing to be the subjects of his photos and were more than willing to assist with this project as well. Both parents were involved in education, with Mike O’Connell being a retired principal from Mesa View Elementary school and Dena O’Connell being a retired kindergarten educator. According to O’Connell, the meaning behind the photo series is especially genuine in the way that his parents have always been hard workers, and they do miss the activity and being a part of the education system. This is a reality in one way or another for many elderly individuals, especially in the past year – a reality O’Connell was hoping to highlight.
O’Connell and his parents were very excited to learn of the award he had won for the photos. Mike and Dena were very happy for and proud of their son, and glad they could help. When asked what advice he had for the current youth of Cibola County looking to do what he did and be successful at something they love, O’Connell said that the main things are to believe in oneself, practice constantly, establish a mindset of determination, put oneself out there, not fear rejection, make sacrifice, and view the future as wide open.
“Try, try, try, try, try no matter who laughs or how you fall on your face or whatever. You’ll be shown the way eventually to do it. And you may not do it exactly the way you think, but it might happen a different way for you. The universe has an interesting way of opening doors if you start knocking,” said O’Connell. The Cibolanative photographer is grateful for the opportunity he received with the Best of Show award, grateful to have been able to work with his parents again, and looking forward to continue working with his passion going into the future.