meltsley's photostream  

I am just a guy who loves taking pictures. Always have really, I just did not know how much. I love pocket cameras for their mobility, but in all honesty their picture taking abilities were becoming a problem. So in order to get more control I got into DSLR. A Canon XSi. It is nice, I like it, I love the images it captures. It has things that annoy me, and it is too big to be a pocket camera, but I still have pocket cameras for the candids and now I have something better for the rest.

I take pictures mostly for my own enjoyment. Mostly of my daughter who is my muse and really the sole reason I even take so many of my pictures. If it were not for her I would still have just my Sony pocket cameras.

I love shooting weddings, for me they are just wonderful events full of great photo opportunities. So many memories and so many moments to capture. Many feel pressure and stress from them but I feel excitement and freedom.

I also love photographing trips, there is little better than a photo-documented road trip complete with memorable places and events captured for reliving at a later time. That is perhaps where my love of photography was kindled in fact. When I lived in Colorado with a few of my buddies, Dan and Jason, we would go hiking and camping most weekends and every chance we got. I would photograph whatever I could, on APS film mostly. Dan and Jason also did a fair amount of photo documentation but for me it became a passion. I loved taking pictures before that point, i took hundreds of photos of my friends and things we did, but it was not until CO that it started to have a deeper pull for me.

I still knew nothing about photography though, the technical side was a mystery. I was a classic point and shoot photographer. I stayed that way until only a couple years ago when I started to want to learn how to take better pictures. Then when my wife Lisa and I found out we were pregnant I decided that it was time to step it up a bit and really learn this stuff. It would be my daughters only link to a time she never knew or would barely remember.

Now as I mature and progress I wonder why I waited, why I did not pursue this long long ago. I love photography, I love taking pictures, I love showing those pictures, I love looking at other peoples pictures. I love reliving moments captured in time, either on film or digitally. I love learning about it, I love practicing things I learn and I love talking to people about it. It really is passion. Perhaps my only true pastime outside of work and family and tv.

I am still green when it comes to much of this, but I am a fast learner and I love the work I have done so far, even all the stuff I did before I knew what I was doing. So this site is first and foremost an outlet for me and my need to create and share. It is mostly for me and though I love to share and receive feedback from you it is not important to me or to the work I create.