I discovered photography when I was in high school and I've never looked back. From the time I was given my very first film camera, I have been obsessed with capturing the world around me.
I'm glad I was born when film and manual cameras still existed! I read a lot of books, took a couple of correspondence courses, and learned about important things like f-stops, depth of field, diffusion, exposure, metering, aperture, and shutter speed by a lot of trial and error and doing things the "hard way". Although I hardly count myself as a master of this wonderful art, I learned a lot about how to use settings that I may not have if I'd been raised on digital cameras.
I can remember, when digital cameras first became available to the general public, swearing I would never own one, that I would be true to the film camera forever...amazing how things change! I bought my first digital camera off of eBay, an old Sony Mavica - one of the big square ones with 3 megapixels that only accepted 3.5" floppy disks - and suddenly I had instant access to my photos in a way I'd never had before. The concept of being able to shoot hundreds of photos and actually preview them before spending hundreds of dollars getting them developed was like putting a kid in a candy store.
It didn't take me long to see that for me, the film era was over. As digital cameras became more sophisticated and photo editing programs became available, I realized I wanted to delve into that world and learn how to manipulate my photos (when needed) to make them pleasing to my own eyes and my own vision. It was a pleasant surprise to me when people started taking note of my work and telling me it was good.
Over the years, I have gone through many cameras - all Canons - and have learned a lot of wonderful new things along the way. I've also become fascinated with the world of "mobile media photography", utilizing several photo apps with my HTC Evo phone camera to create fun photos that I can post and share instantly with my friends and family.
I know a lot of people are purists and don't care too much for the ways photos can be manipulated today. I agree there are times when digital manipulation can go too far; I can also see the value in being able to tweak or fix a photo when the original version didn't quite work. I love to play around with different effects and settings when it comes to my photos. Sometimes I leave them as they are, sometimes I do a little, sometimes I do a lot. The bottom line, for me, is creating a photo whose beauty speaks to me in a certain way. If others like it, fantastic. If not...well, there's not much I can do about it. The main thing for me is, I want to stay true to my vision.
I don't like to confine myself to any one type of photography or subject, so you will see a little of everything here. If I have a camera in my hand, everything is fair game, whether it's pets, people, architecture, landscapes, night shots, street photography, stealth photography, sports, portraits - you'll likely see it at some point. I'll try to categorize everything to make it easier, but I make no promises!
Thanks again for visiting. I hope you enjoy what you see.
