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My interest in photography began at age seven, when I first began sneaking my mother's camera out of her bedroom. It was a cheap 110 format camera, and though my mom scolded me when she caught me with it the first couple of times, I found it hard to resist looking at life through that little rectangle viewfinder. It was a moment in time where the big picture was narrowed down into whatever I pointed the camera at and chose to push the button to keep forever. That is how I still see photography, almost 30 years later; with enthusiasm and wonder at what the next click of the shutter may bring. I began persuing photography as a profession in 2003, first self-teaching for a couple of years, and then taking a comprehensive photography course with the New York Institute of Photography when I felt I could not get further on my own. I recieved instruction from Joe Billera, who was a photography instructor at a private Pennsylvania university for 27 years, and also was an apprentice to internationally renowned fashion photographer Richard Avedon. During that time and to the present, I have won many awards for my photography, participated in area group photography projects, and have been been featured locally and globally in the commercial photography arena. I use both film and digital cameras to photograph my subjects, and own 8 different cameras ranging from medium format film cameras through novelty cameras and everything in between. I don't use them all professionally, but look at them as tools to assist me in capturing life exactly as I want to remember it, which may mean light leaks and vignetting through the lens of a Holga, for example. Most professional shoots that I have participated in, I use a Nikon D5000, one of my Bronica medium format film cameras, a Nikon N80 film camera, or a Canon Powershot S3 IS. One day I hope someone will invent "the perfect camera" - one that will suit all of my needs without having to drag around 8 cameras and 9 lenses! Until then, I will remember one of my favorite quotes from photographer Carl Mydans; "...one is not really a photographer until preoccupation with learning has been outgrown and the camera in his hands is an extension of himself. There is where creativity begins." |