Photography And Me

For me, photography has always been a lifelong hobby. I remember having an old film 35 mm when I was a kid. I would take it up to the mountains where I grew up in Colorado, to try to capture the aspen trees changing to gold. It was my Dads, but he would let me borrow the family camera to experiment on. You know, the one you took on vacation or that was pulled out for the Christmas Photo in August. ( This was the 1980’s and things needed time to develop).

I would go to the grocery store with him and we would buy a pack of film, load it in the camera, and then depending on how many exposures we had either 12 or 24, we would take that many photos. We had to be picky because there were no re-dos. Then we took the rolls of film to the photo lab to have it developed in a few days' time. That's when the magic came and we would sit down to see what we captured on film.

Then and now it has always been one of my favorite family activities. Over the years with three kids, three dogs, and a turtle I often had a camera around, but mostly just took photos for family memories, and of course cute animal portraits.

Then the iPhone came and made things a bit easier in the chaos of my world, for family photos. My 35 mm was then replaced by a semi-digital version, but I always tried to teach whichever of my children was interested in photography. I realized early on that It mattered to me to pass that wonder with a camera, down to another generation. There is nothing that replaces looking through the eyepiece and seeing the world through that camera view.

Over the years things changed and what was old became new again. Six and a half years ago we decided to sell our home in Colorado and move to Kauai, Hawaii. Surrounded by plants and scenery we had never seen before, my two high schoolers and I picked up a camera or a DSLR again. They took a class in the online school they were attending, and I bought an online course and a brand new camera to learn more myself. Since I had learned on an old school, manual, no autofocus in sight, you better get your shutter speed and aperture right the first time kinda camera, I picked this new thing up pretty quickly. 😉

At this point in my life, I wasn’t just taking pictures of my family changing, it felt like I was recording life around me. Where I lived, nature, people, and the land. Since then, I have learned more and more about photography and life. How to photograph birds, night skies, and landscapes. How to hold onto memories and let go of loved ones through photos. I also learned how you know you have just the right edit on a photo, when you see the growing smile on the face of the person your showing it to.

I keep growing and keep going with my camera and with myself. It’s a great hobby to get me outside in nature, to notice all the things around me, and record this miraculous place called Earth. I keep chasing clouds and holding onto my dreams, adventuring through life, my trusty camera by my side.

I invite you to view my gallery to see some of my favorite shots, follow me on Instagram to see the world through my lens, or just say "hi".🙋🏼‍♀️

Someday soon I might decide to sell them but for now, I’m just happy showing beauty and magic in our world.