I grew up in the beautiful state of Montana.  It was there, that I fell in love with photography.  In 1977 I was the proud owner of a Kodak 126 camera.  Let’s say that not all photos turned out, but for the most part, they weren’t so bad for a kid!  The one photograph that caught my attention was one I took of the sun through the clouds.  It was the “one” that got me hooked on photography!  That photo was the first one I had enlarged,  matted, and entered into the Missoula County Fair.  I got a blue ribbon on that photo, and I was a proud 14 year old! Montana was where my love for Landscape Photography came about, from the badlands of Eastern Montana to the mountains of Western Montana.

Fast forward to many years, and many cameras.  My first “real” camera was a Minolta SRT-102.  I loved the ease of this manual beauty.  I used it up until the early 2000’s. My favorite lens had somehow broke and I was in search of a digital camera.  One in my price range.  It was a small Sony point and shoot.  It wasn’t kind to me.  I have had many different fixed lens digital cameras throughout the years.  As I started to develop my photography skills, my need and want for a better digital camera became a priority.  I now shoot with Canon DSLR’s and I do love the ease of their cameras.

I was once described by a friend, as an “Artist”.  I guess I never really realized that a photographer is indeed an artist.  Throughout the years I was able to learn photoshop and it became a staple to my photography.  Do I digitally manipulate all my photos? Certainly not.  But there are those times when I feel creative enough to go to the “dark-side” of digital manipulation.   This day and age, all you really have to do is download an App for your smart phone and you can create almost anything!  I do use apps, but I prefer creating the effect in Photoshop.

Thank you to my friends and family for your support over the years.  My husband is my greatest supporter and he is also the one that encourages me the most!  I have tough competition when we go out shooting together!  Lessons learned, if you buy a new camera, make sure you don’t sell the old one, because it’s a lot of fun to shoot with a friend, or in my case my husband!!