“Beyond the Engineering Mind”
Interview with Katie Vandergriff: who is an engineer/Smithsonian Award Winning artist photographer / wife and mother of three. Katie is extraordinarily accomplished and has a brilliant mind for change. Katie Vandergriff worked for Oak Ridge National Laboratory as an Engineer and has owned several business. One in Engineering and one in Photography. As an Artist she has exhibited works of photography at major museums and is a wife and a mother of three beautiful children.

Tracee: First of all Katie,
Would you tell me about your life as an engineer …

Katie: I have been an engineer for 17 year and my focus is in mechanical engineering, specializing in robotics.

Tracee: What importance has engineering played in your life…

Katie: The importance of the training in engineering was teaching me how to think logically as it helped me to work through difficult challenges.

Tracee: How much schooling did it take for you to become an engineer…

Katie: Four years of school taught me to become an engineer however you can school for up to eight years.

Tracee: You are also an accomplished and wonderfully talented photographer and I’d like to know more about what in the photography world if anything, has made any of your life more complete…
Katie: A lot of people talk about left brain right brain activity. The thing I have found is that the left brain and right brain work together, and the skill of visualizing something that could be there before you take a picture, or before you set up your shot, is creative, and the technical aspect of composing the photograph together, are both left and right brained. It's wonderful to capture a moment in time before it’s forgotten and being able to use both sides of the brain allows me to see my life as both a participant and a viewer.
Does that sound strange?

Tracee: No, not at all. As a matter of fact there is a movement known as “fluxes”, (who, artist, Yoko Ono, is involved with) that I was introduced to, and it is just that. It is, to create, and to be a participant as you are creating.

Katie Vandergriff: The moment that allows you to use your left, and right side of your brain, in a creative way with photography brings joy in life. One day I had a photographer friend taking pictures of me, when my children were very young and well, the baby had just made a big mess while the picture was snapped, and the friend of mine said, “guess we’ll use a soft focus filter on this.” Katie- “we both laughed.”

Tracee: What is your favorite subject in photography…

Katie: Children! And people. I like this subject matter so much because children change so much and you can record the transition as the photo captures the internal and external. Children change from day to day and from year to year and the transition in that person is so great. Often the change in children is energetic and inspirational as they grow.

Tracee: Is there any point in time that photography has made you feel great about your life…


Katie: Weddings are another area that brings me joy because it is that day where everyone is happy and they look extraordinary and often times the surroundings are beautiful and you can bring that beautiful moment to life forever in a photograph.
There are other times on mission trips that I can take a photograph that tells a story and that can create change.
It is that very special moment in time that you can freeze for a life time.

Tracee: Are there any times that you feel a relationship in your engineering abilities and your photography…

Katie: Yes, it is in teaching children. I teach a children’s photography class and I love to teach them to go after what they want to shoot. You just give them the equipment and show them how to use the it, and let them go after what their eyes and their mind sees. Teaching children photography is wonderful because they shoot the most wonderfully fresh subjects.”

Tracee: Are there any times that either your engineering ability or your creative ability fill a certain need in your life…

Katie: That happens because I can visualize things that are not yet present. Weird huh! It sounds strange even to me because, I have found that not everyone has the ability to see things that can be. I go after that in engineering and the creative ability allows me to expand an idea. In engineering there is a right answer and a wrong answer. In the creative process it is totally different- and that is where the two diverge. Without the creative process, the technical process would not exist because the idea is creative first and with the technical process, change takes place. Someone, I forget who, said, “if you’re not making progress your not moving forward.”

Tracee: Okay, now about being a mom… any opening comments about the changes in your life since you have had three children and have home schooled them…

Katie: It’s funny you asked me that question. Our generation has been brought up to think that we can have it all. And we can have it all but not all at the same time. It is hard to have a full career, and a complete family life, and be a wife, and have time for your self because if you try and do that the quality of your life diminishes. There is no time to give all of that your all. You can not give 100% to your children, 100% to your husband, and 100% to your career. The math for that is not possible.

Tracee: That is a very valid point in today’s world as a woman and as a mother as well as being a parent.

Katie: You have to make choices as to what is the most important to you. I gave my career and my family life 5 years together, but I had to make a choice as to what I wanted to give quality to.
I had fun in my career, I made accomplishment and gained knowledge, and then became a full-time mother, and I’m happy with that.
I cherish every moment.

Tracee: Do you ever feel like your other abilities in the engineering field or creative field have either faded or sharpened…

Katie: I feel that I have become a lot more creative. There is nothing more amazing to me than seeing the light in a child’s face when they are discovering something creative, my point of inspiration has changed and I’m thankful of that.

Tracee: Well, I know from talking to you before that you are truly a great leader in the education field with the way that you have educated your children…is there anything you would do differently…

Katie: I began home schooling four years ago and it is the best decision that our family has ever made.

Tracee: After getting to know your children, I’d say that being an active mom in home schooling, you have made the right decision and you have made an amazing difference in your children’s upbringing as they are wonderful and bright children.

Tracee: After speaking with others on the subject of being a mom and having had a substantial career, do you have anything you’d like to comment on, about how different it is to have a home life –v- a 9-5 office life…

Katie: Well, I never thought that I’d be driving home with a car load of loose chickens scrambling around the back of my SUV. After a 4-H family day, I was transporting chickens and the chickens were everywhere. It wasn’t that long ago that I was meeting with presidents of companies and even generals at the Pentagon in my business dress clothes. I never dreamed I would have been driving around country roads with chickens all over the place and having the time of my life.

Tracee: In your career life you have traveled substantially and you've lived all over the globe, do you think that you have influenced any young minds for the better in sharing your experience…

Katie: You never really know if you have influenced any one really. Though teaching/volunteering, I hope to make a difference.
It really is difficult to measure but I hope to.

Tracee: Do you have any thing you’d like to say in making more changes be it through you or your future engagements as your children get older or through other people that can make changes in a special interest area that you might wish for….

Katie: Something you realize as you age or grow into motherhood is that it is not all about you. It is about realizing, on a much larger level, that making changes in your community and making contributions in the world is more important.

Katie: There are people in the world that think there are children who will never have anything to give, or that there are certain children that cannot contribute anything. Because of the training and experience that I’ve had, not only as an engineer or photography instructor to children, but as a mother and a home school instructor, I know or feel that I can help to bring out something that they have to contribute.

Tracee: I want to say that this has been a lovely afternoon and thank you very much for your time Katie Vandergriff.

Katie: Thank you so much and I feel honored to be included in your Design World One interview.

Tracee: Thank you again Katie for sharing your afternoon with us and I was thrilled with the interview.