Following Breadcrumbs: A Midlife Pivot to Fine Art Photography with Deb Achak

Episode 24 - 04/15/26

Deb Achak did not set out to be a fine art photographer. She set out to survive.

After leaving a career in social work, caring for her mother through lung cancer, losing her mother, and then twenty-five days later giving birth to her second son, and navigating years of grief while raising two young boys, Deb picked up a camera. Not because she had a plan. Because something in her needed it.

In this episode of Welcome to Your B-Side, Dr. Amy Lindsey sits down with her friend Deb to talk about what it actually looks like to follow breadcrumbs without knowing where they lead. Deb’s story is not about a dramatic pivot or a bold leap. It is about slowly, quietly, patiently following one thing to the next – a self-portraiture group, a filmmaking workshop, a fine art printing lab, an underwater camera housing – until one day she rounded a corner in her house and heard three words: art on walls.

This episode is also about grief, identity, imposter syndrome, keeping your creative work quiet while it develops, and why art is not frivolous. It is what makes life worth living.

Dr. Amy notes at the top of this episode that this is her last episode of Welcome to Your B-Side for a while as she follows her own next breadcrumb.

In this episode, you will learn:

  • Why following breadcrumbs without a plan is sometimes the most direct path to where you are supposed to be

  • Why keeping your creative work quiet in the early stages is not secretive, it is protective

  • How grief can crack you open in a way that points you toward something you never planned for

  • Why imposter syndrome gets quieter the longer you stay in your work, and how to turn the volume down on it before it does

  • Why art is not a hobby or a luxury, it is medicine, and what it actually does for your nervous system

Reminder: Nothing in this podcast is a substitute for medical or professional advice. Always consult your own doctor.

KEY MOMENTS:

  • 6:52 — Why you don’t need a plan to start
  • 16:12 — The flash of insight that said art on walls, and the inner critic that followed
  • 23:07 — The match and bonfire: why sharing your creative work too early can put the fire out
  • 26:38 — Identity shift, imposter syndrome, and turning the volume down
  • 32:46 — Art as medicine and what collecting beauty does for your nervous system
  • 36:48 — If it doesn’t make sense, that kind of means you need to do it

ABOUT DEB ACHAK:

Deb Achak is a Seattle-based fine art photographer working in large-scale color photography. Her work explores interior landscapes and the emotional and metaphysical connections between human experience and the natural world. Her photographs have been exhibited widely across the United States and internationally. Before photography, she spent nearly a decade in social work at Harborview Medical Center and later earned her graduate degree in social work from the University of Washington. She came to photography in her forties and built her career from there.

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