When I was a little girl, any trip I would go on my mom would buy me, at a minimum, two disposable cameras. She would constantly remind me to be taking pictures of the actual events that I was doing instead of ones of the ground that were blurry, unfocused, and had the world's smallest flower in the upper corner because I thought it was pretty. No matter how many times I was reminded as I walked out the door, the photos that were developed where always of trees, flowers, and things I thought looked cool. I guess you could say that this was the start of my passion for seeing the world through the lens of a camera. What some people see as a flower near a fence, I see it as an opportunity to capture a moment in time.
Growing up, I loved to share my pictures. Every time I would get my developed photos, I would immediately want to sit and show other people what I saw and experienced. As I became more and more involved and would constantly be trying to learn new things, I slowly began to show people my work less and less, for no reason. It's not that I don't love my work, it's that I just always feel like there will always be better.
I first started to take random pictures of flowers and this would later lead to animals, random moments, portraits of friends, taking my sister's senior photos, and I would even attempt to take many different concept photos of myself.
While it definitely took me a while to get the hang of our new camera, I slowly fell in love. To me, there is no describable feeling behind being able to look through a lens, see something in a way that many people wouldn't think about seeing that way, and being able to capture it forever. One year, I decided to enter some of my pictures into the county fair. To my surprise, I came up just a tad short of winning grad champion on one of my photos. From that point on, I knew I must have been doing something right.
While I haven't had much time in the past couple of years, I use my iPhone whenever I am able to. It is a simple, mobile way for me to quickly capture what I can see. I know I am by no means a professional, not even close. In fact, I don't mind if I never gain the term "professional." This is something that I love to do and I can enjoy no matter what the circumstance.
Many people probably have no idea what I mean by not being able to describe the feeling of photography. Imagine being able to think of something that nobody would see. Now think about being able to capture this and save it forever. I guess that is the best way I can describe how it feels. Below are some of my moments in time, my visions of the world. Enjoy.
After all, there's something magical about being able to see the world in a different light.
“Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever… It remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.” — Aaron Siskind
