A Momentum and Direction Forward

Over the past year, I have been building my portfolio and gaining momentum with photography as a business, I have been intentionally planning trips to experience new things and gain some portfolio work in different seasons and different locations than Sunny South Florida! Also, I have been fortunate enough to have some beautiful friends that enjoy letting me take their pictures. In addition, beautiful familes have been hospitable and gracious to open their home to me in these great places to take pictures. Many friends over the past year have been supporting my photography through hiring me to take family portraits, individual portraits, and also several weddings. Next year, I would love to start setting up more portraiture and wedding work and gain more of a repertoire for wildlife and landscape. This next post is from a recent trip I took to South Carolina, and I took some casual photos of my friends for my portfolio, some beautiful backyard golden hour photos, and also an opportunity to go to the top of Sassafras Mountain and take some pictures of a magnificent sunset. Unfortunately, I forgot my tripod head, so my experience was more difficult than it had to be at the top of the mountain, but I was still satisfied with the pictures that I came home with. I am currently in Utah, and although the priority of this trip is primarily a family vacation, I love every small opportunity to build on my portfolio especially in a place like Park City, Utah. So far, I have been snowboarding more than taking pictures! I hope you all enjoy the post! Happy New Year to all my friends, family, and photography supporters.

Monday Nights

Although Photography is a passion of mine, and I am attempting to communicate that passion in my blogs, I have learned and am continuing to learn that friends, family, and having people to share time and passions with is extremely valuable to my well-being and happiness. The love of photography for me began as an introverted journey and in many aspects it still is, but I have found great joy in bringing others along, and beginning to shoot more personal subjects than places I have visited, animals I have seen, or strangers catching my eye. Balance in life has been a point of learning and a discipline as life has become filled with many interests, and work mainly, but also photography, because it can easily become a point of busyness that denies me time for friends and family. Every monday a group of friends of mine get together at a local establishment called Landlubbers. They have 60 cent wings, 70 cent raw oysters, and cheap beers . My friends and I love wings, raw oysters, and beers; some original lovers, some newly introduced, but all friends. There are a few that are regulars and occasionally we bring a crowd, but consistently there are at least three of us that show our faces on a Monday night. Although we didn't eat wings on this night I assure you their wings are delicious and worthy of a visit especially at 60 cents a piece. I just wanted to share this time with you as I begin to open up more of a personal side to this blog. My intention was to post mostly personal postings on Flickr and keep the blog for more photography oriented posts. This is a step out of bounds.

A Love Affair

A year ago, I began a love affair with Natural Landscapes and Wildlife photography. I have had experience with both, but always more along the lines of Travel Photography and Visits to the zoo. Travelling is an old love that I long to see again, visits to the zoo are a fling that offers something more superficial. I am in pursuit of a more lasting fulfilling love experience. This journey is a fresh love that brings me deeper into the dynamic beauty of nature and the authentic presence of animals on their terms. It began by visiting the Everglades with a group of photographers who I work with at Beckman Coulter, Inc. It led me into staying up all night to experience the bright lights of a cityscape, and driving straight to the everglades to catch the morning light and early stirrings of birds and alligators. Winter's in Florida are a treasure that the bird's have known about long before humans settled here. Birds became the primary wildlife that I enjoyed seeing during this early stage of falling in love. Since these early images, I have been dreaming of travelling to wild places throughout the US, and experiencing this love. I have begun to learn new techniques, gain more experience, collect equipment and clothing for hiking and winter extremes, and ultimately planning trips to places of extreme natural beauty with the hopes of experiencing a deeper love.