Q&A: Marlborough Man Donates Time and Talents Through Volunteering

Marlborough Patch asked resident, family man, Patch contributor and volunteer Paul Bishop to share with us during this season of giving. 

Tell us about you and your family. 

My wife Karen is from Milford, but I grew up in rural Wisconsin, the adopted son of a Navy man and a teacher. Tragically both died in a gas explosion in our home when I was fifteen, with myself and two siblings being taken in by my aunt and uncle. I decided there were many memories that were best left behind, and after a half-hearted few years of college, I made the grand adventure of loading my belongings in a pickup and driving East. I ended up in Framingham, and eventually met the intriguing and beautiful woman that I made my wife. We met and married after I came to the New England looking for work and education resources available in this area in the late 1980's. Just shy of a year later, our son Tyler was born.

How long have you lived in Marlborough? 

After moving here from Natick with our young son, we've lived in Marlborough for nearly fifteen years now. We rented a very memorable apartment on Harvard street for several years, then one morning about eleven years ago, I stopped at a yard sale around the corner—and ended up buying the yard, complete with a cozy cape-style home. Since then, we've added our daughter and a lot of good friends and neighbors, and have been quite happy in our little city of Marlborough. For a country boy, there's still enough fresh air and trees, but the city of Boston and the resources that come with a major city are a stone's throw away. We're very happy to call Marlborough home. These days, I am a stay at home Dad due to my illness, while Karen is a customer service specialist for a bank. Money's sometimes tight, but you'll still most often find us smiling.

What sort of volunteer work do you do? 

My volunteer work, my photography, began as something much more personal.  I became disabled by an incurable illness called Crohns Disease a number of years ago, without warning becoming critically ill and eventually reaching a level where work became impossible. This and other factors led me into a period of serious depression. My photography began as a sort of self-imposed Art Therapy, to force myself back out into the world, to force myself to look for beautiful and inspiring things rather than the bleak outlooks that can come from chronic illness. My formal training in photography is minimal, a semester elective course I admittedly napped through most of the time, decades ago. A fifty dollar used Kodak digital camera got me out and interacting with the world again, back into the light from a very dark place I had gotten to. It began as snapshots of flowers and a sunset or two, and over the years has come to include the yearly Marlborough Labor Day Parade, the arrival of President Obama in Marlborough, local theatre productions, as well as the wide range of naturally beautiful scenery and wildlife this area has to offer. In November, I provided photography for the American Cancer Society's "Pink! - Party for Life" at the DCU Center in Worcester, and have in the past also done photography for the Pan Mass Challenge. I also contribute photography to Patch, it's a great forum for local interest stories like these.

Why is it important to you to volunteer? 

My volunteer work, my photography, began as something much more personal.  I became disabled by an incurable illness called Crohns Disease a number of years ago, without warning becoming critically ill and eventually reaching a level where work became impossible. This and other factors led me into a period of serious depression. My photography began as a sort of self-imposed Art Therapy, to force myself back out into the world, to force myself to look for beautiful and inspiring things rather than the bleak outlooks that can come from chronic illness. My formal training in photography is minimal, a semester elective course I admittedly napped through most of the time, decades ago. A fifty dollar used Kodak digital camera got me out and interacting with the world again, back into the light from a very dark place I had gotten to. It began as snapshots of flowers and a sunset or two, and over the years has come to include the yearly Marlborough Labor Day Parade, the arrival of President Obama in Marlborough, local theatre productions, as well as the wide range of naturally beautiful scenery and wildlife this area has to offer.  In November, I provided photography for the American Cancer Society's "Pink! - Party for Life" at the DCU Center in Worcester, and have in the past also done photography for the Pan Mass Challenge. I also contribute photography to Patch, it's a great forum for local interest stories like these.

My volunteer photography I enjoy immensely when I can do it. It in some ways is a little taste of "working" again—doing something productive, and I'm very gratified that so many are pleased with the outcome of my occasionally letting others look at the world through my admittedly offbeat eyes. It's a personal goal to someday start small group "classes" in basic photography with other patients of chronic illness. I certainly would have never thought of myself as an Artist, but it has been this art form which has done so much for me. As a patient who knows, I like to encourage others who are in similar circumstances to try art as an escape from some of the harsher realities of severe illness. The art form isn't important. Seeing the world in that way is the key.

I'm tremendously pleased that others enjoy the results of my own quest for a little inner peace, and am pleased to bring folks a view of the world through my eyes.

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