Exquisite Image Photography

My parents gave me my first really nice camera when I was in high school. It was a Minolta S-100 and my mom will tell you that she drove in a snow storm to go pick it up. At the time I had no idea what I was doing, just experimenting – point and click, point and click, zooooooooom, point and click.

I worked at a preschool and had the best time taking pictures of the kids there. I would zoom in close to their little faces and snap snap snap. A few actually turned out nice! My first big break came from my father. He was played guitar for the Albert Mason Band and they were going to put out their second cd. They asked me to do their photos! I was thrilled and immeasurably more frightened than I’d been in a long time. By the end of the day I was having a blast, bossing around these 40-somethings and trying to get a couple of great shots. I wish I knew where those photographs went. Later, one of the other band members was running for city council and he paid me to come take pictures at his rally. Okay, so those pictures were actually horrible, and I felt bad getting paid to do it… but he said he was paying me for my time as well as my talent.

The years passed and I kept taking pictures until one Christmas I really did something great. My sister and I went out to take some black and white shots of ourselves to mat and frame for my parents. The light was perfect, the way each shot was set up really showcased our different personalities. I also included a landscape print I had taken that summer at the Arboretum. My mom liked the landscape so much, she put it up at our church and one of the children’s pastors saw it. Much to my surprise, she approached me about purchasing a copy of the landscape print! That feeling, that amazing feeling of having someone get what you do, that they felt something when they looked at it. I was hooked!

So fast forward years later… I’ve started an Etsy shop for my sewing and so I’m learning all about macro photography. All of a sudden I’m seeing things in a whole new way and I’m adjusting the f-stop and shutter speed, trying different angles to get just the right composition, laying in the wet grass to capture a great shot, or getting up WAY too early to get that wonderful early morning light.

What makes my photographs so special? Why should you spend your time looking at them, or even spend your money to bring a print into your home? That’s the best part about photography… you’ll see something different than I do. Take the invitation to explore the world through my eyes. You might be amazed at what you see!

Feel free to view more of my photographs at my Etsy shop: www.exquisiteimage.etsy.com