Camera Passion

I’ve always had what I’ve referred to as “real moments” in life. Points in time where I look around and everything makes sense and I just have an urge to capture it. I realize now that these moments usually have a lot to do with lighting. For instance, my first “real moment” occurred while I was waiting to take my place with the rest of the marching band to perform a half-time show at a high school football game. The lights on the field, surrounded by the dark midwestern night, and it was just so REAL. I know now that this is my photographic eye, wanting to capture moments, people, thoughts, feelings, places that move me in whatever way.

I’ve been obsessed with cameras since I received my first digital in 2003 upon my graduation from college. A Canon Powershot (3 megapixels), as soon as I started clicking away, I just KNEW that digital photography was going to be right up my alley. I had been intimidated by two photography major friends who spent hours both developing in the darkroom and coming up with intellectual reasons why they took photographs of the things they did. This was not for me.

I was drawn towards the instant gratification that digital cameras provide, as well as the minimal developing costs associated with it. 12 cents a print! My third digital camera was when I really started to enjoy TAKING pictures and not just being in them. A Canon Powershot Digital Elph (5 megapixels) became my inspiration. I started reading everything I could get my hands on and taught myself ISO speed, F-stops, aperture, shutter, exposure, white balance, I needed to know everything about every button on that little camera. I started taking pictures of everything and anything. One in particular caught the eye of someone who would turn out to be very influential in my life.

While babysitting for a family whose children were at the preschool program where I taught, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, I snapped this photo of their daughter:
I printed it and shared it with them. A week later I got a call from Mr. Lee Hurley, editor-in-chief of Executive Traveler magazine. He asked me to get my portfolio together and come visit him. What the $!@#?!?!?!? A portfolio?! So I burned some of my favorite shots on a disc and went into his office.

The rest is history, I suppose. I’ve been traveling and taking pictures since November 2005. My photographs have since been published in a coffee table book of children’s photography, and appear in almost every issue of Executive Traveler magazine.

After my first trip for the magazine, I very quickly started saving money for a digital SLR of my very own. I now feel that I’ve pretty much mastered that, as well as my little digital point-and-shoot companion camera. My interest has moved from macro, to portraits, to reflections, to shadows, to experimenting with color. I guess it all depends on my mood and whatever lens is on my camera!

Although I’m still learning something new in Photoshop at least once a month, my attention is now drawn more towards film cameras, darkrooms, and the process that I’ve started to feel a little cheated for having missed out on. So, my sweet Mama, who received a Canon SLR when she graduated from high school in 1971, is letting me borrow this relic, along with two lenses. I know that I have a lot to learn from this fully manual camera, but I can’t wait to get started. The learning process would be sped along rapidly if I hadn’t already ruined the only two rolls of film I’ve purchased while trying to load them ☺