A few years after the studio officially opened, the business incorporated as "Swiridoff Photography, Inc. At the same time, I became more active in within the Central California Professional Photographers Association, participating in local and national events. Encouraged by a dear friend, Elmer Kingham of Redlands, I prepared a topic and went on a speaking circuit across the state to present it to other local photography associations. This was one of the requirements factored into the total cumulative merit points required for a Master's degree in photography as well as the National Exposure Merits and merits received for completing refresher courses offered by the he state association at the West Coast School of Photography in Santa. Barbara. I usually went there as part of my annual week-long vacation, enjoying the camaraderie among colleagues and expanding my own horizons in particular areas of photography, sometimes taking one of my employees along. Then followed years of holding local and national board positions. organizations, to finally occupy the position of president of the PPCC, which was a great opportunity to give back to the profession part of what I had learned in the process of managing my business. Interestingly, one of my first speaking engagements took me to Redlands, about 300 miles southeast of Fresno, where I presented a program at the Inland Empire Photographers Association. On this occasion I also visited my dear friends Lisa and Neil Adair at their studio and stayed the night at Elmer and Vera Kingham at 811 West Olive Street. (Same street number as our first address in Fresno) Little did I know that 30 years later I would become a "regular" in Redlands and that I, m...... middle of paper...... professional life As a photographer and businessman, my life has been greatly enriched in other ways. First and foremost by our children, who entered our lives like unexpected miracles, and later by events that led me to reconnect with my Russian roots and then also in a very extraordinary way by assisting and witnessing the miracle of live births. of our two godchildren Katharina, my brother Paul's daughter, whom he fathered at the young and virile age of 80, then Alexa, my Russian namesake, born in November 1995. At the time of writing these lines, as as grandparents, having the joy of observing our children's parenting skills from a distance on our 6 talented grandchildren, Connor, Caleb, Collin, Cassandra, Clarissa and Christian, wondering what their mission in life is, “what worlds they could conquer and what distant planets they could travel to »…”