The best way to describe me is as a learner. If I'm interested in something, I want to learn more about it. Sometimes, I'm successful and sometimes I'm not (ie. the collection of instruments currently in my closet) But when I'm successful I pursue it, and thats the short version of how I started in photography.
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Now, for the long story. My mother has always asked me to make her a list of what I wanted for my birthday, and the only list I still remember today was the year I asked for a camera. Before this moment I was only allowed single-use cameras but at the whopping age of 11 I felt like I was ready for a real camera. So for my birthday I received my first camera, a very basic film camera. It wasn't much, but it was mine. I used it all throughout middle school, and still have every negative I've ever had developed. Taking a step into the digital age I was 13 years old, had just discovered eBay and decided it was time for a digital camera. Over the high school years I went through several cameras each more advanced than the other. I was very interested in his equipment and he was gracious enough to answer all of my questions. And then college hit. It was April 2008 when I was introduced to a friend of a friend who was a professional photographer. |
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He then proceeded to have me hold one of his cameras while he changed lens, and when I went to hand it back to him he told me to hold on to it and shoot some. I had no idea what I was doing and I was completely terrified. But at the same time, I had never felt more excited. That was the moment I decided that photography was something that I was extremely interested in.
Later that year I had finally saved up enough money to buy my first digital single lens reflex (DSLR) camera, I played with it for hours but could never figure out how to work it. Friends had chipped in to help but I never really understood what I was being told. This all changed after I decided to take a darkroom photography class at Valencia. I learned things in that class that no textbook could ever teach you, skills that you could not learn with a digital camera. I learned to love the dying art of film photography.
After two semesters of film photography I discovered that I had a passion for capturing the special moments in individual's lives. Seeing the joy in other's lives is a very inspiriting experience and is something that occurs very often in the type of photography I prefer. There is also a sense of joy in knowing that you are the one responsible for perfectly capturing the moment that will live on in someone else heart for ever. And for me, that is where my passion comes from.