About

I fell in love with photography the first time I picked up a 35mm camera, back in my mid-teens. Unfortunately, I allowed self-doubt and “life” to get in the way of my passion and wasted many years ignoring my first true-love.

About a decade ago, I took a black and white photography class at my local community college and was quickly reminded of the joy I felt when I immortalized a beautiful moment in time with the snap of the shutter button. Sadly, after that class was over, I once again found myself unable to truly pursue my love of photography and instead focused on raising our two daughters, working a full-time job, and going to school part-time; there was no time left for “fun.”

A few years later, knowing how I loved taking photographs, my husband bought me my first DSLR for Christmas. Though my film cameras were Canon, the Nikon D40 was on sale so I became a Nikon girl (Although I have many friends who will argue over the quality of their specific brand of camera, to be honest, I have no allegiance any specific company). I would take my camera out and get some great shots, but I was mostly shooting on auto mode, in JPEG, and still wasn’t able to focus (see what I did there?) on learning all ins-and-outs of this wonderful world of digital photography.

Last year, I finally finished up my schooling, and found myself unemployed so I decided to use some of the down time between looking for a job and waiting for the phone to ring to learn how to truly use my camera. What I learned in those months was that I had to start all over again; some self-teaching and one college class does not make a photographer. If I was going to fully understand the art AND science behind photography, I was going to have to put more time and effort into it.

Luckily, thanks to the Internet, I found a group of local, like-minded individuals who I could spend time with, talking about and practicing photography. We went on outings and trips for the sole purpose of taking photographs, some of their shots are simply amazing and I am humbled when they compliment my photos and am very thankful for all of their encouragement and guideance.

Ultimately, even with all of the trips and outings I participated in this year, I know it’s not enough to push me to the next level. I know that I won’t be able to go on every excursion with my photography friends in 2016, so I feel that I need to do something else to push me, to help me grow as a photographer and to finally emblazon the technical rules of the art into my brain.

Finally, my desire to be a better photographer has prompted me to start my own Project 365 in 2016. I, along with some of these friends I have made over this past year, have decided to challenge ourselves to take and post 1 photo a day for 365 days (0r 366 days since it’s a leap year). We will adhere to pre-determined themes in hopes of challenging ourselves to reach outside of our comfort zones, learning new techniques, looking at subjects differently and building stronger photography muscles.

I will post these photos on this blog and I will attempt to always add some sort of back story or at the very least,  a caption of the daily theme. This will not only enhance my photography skills, but will also help create a habit of blogging daily; something I’ve wanted to do for the past few years.

I hope you enjoy the photos that I post, please feel free to follow me, leave comments and share my blog if you feel moved to do so.