Ten years ago, La Jolla resident Michael Spengler was a well-paid sales and marketing executive for a high-tech firm. He worked long hours, traveled often and wasn’t very fulfilled. But when the Sept. 11 attacks hit while he was sitting on a tarmac waiting to take off for a business trip to New York, he decided to make some major changes in his life. According to his wife, Jennifer Spengler, Michael had always had a passion for photography, and had dreamed of making a living doing what he loved. The tragedy of 9/11, she said, “served as the catalyst we needed to follow our dream.” Following that dream involved the Spenglers leaving behind Michael’s old job and selling their luxury cars and house in the La Jolla hills to purchase a photography studio that needed some major upgrades. After struggling to build up the business in an economic climate where superfluous purchases were the first to go, the Spenglers now own a thriving studio in the heart of Bird Rock, where Michael runs two distinctly different photography businesses under one roof. Studio M La Jolla offers portraits of babies, children and teens, while Michael Spengler Photography focuses on commercial photography for resorts and tech companies worldwide. Today, the Spenglers have a hard time keeping up with the amount of business coming in. Michael Spengler photographs more than 700 high school senior portraits and just finished a busy holiday portrait season, in addition to his commercial photography ventures. And, Jennifer Spengler said, the family has been able to move back into the hills of La Jolla and enjoys more down time together. “We’re also able to actively participate in our girls’ schools and the community through our services and donations,” she wrote in an e-mail, “which has opened us up to a whole new world of people and places beyond the boundaries of our old, more traditional, less creative and far more ‘rat-racey’ lifestyle.”