actressteacher's photostream

Married mother of three who loves history, photography, my family, and God - not necessarily in that order.

Since I was a teenager, I have had a camera close by - not a fancy one, but one I could put in my purse and carry around with me everywhere. I started with a little Kodak Instamatic with 126 cartridge film. (Does anyone remember those?) I had a pocket 110 camera for awhile. (Another obsolete camera). Getting a small 35 mm was a huge step up after I got married and had my kids. Now I'm on my second digital point and shoot, a Kodak Z1285.

I prefer lightweight, small cameras that fit in what is supposed to be a cigarette compartment in my purse. Since I don't smoke, that's the perfect size for a camera.

I wanted to avoid having my photo albums be full of Christmas and birthday photos, but little else, so I took pictures of everything. Not only school stuff, but all the mundane things of life. (I have probably tens of thousands of photos now. I have to limit how many I put up). I take lots of candid shots. In fact, most of my photos are not posed in any way. Recently I have been attempting portraits.

A lot of my past photos I would consider more documentary in nature. I love history, probably more than photography, so a lot of my subjects are old buildings, places I have been, places I want to record for posterity because it won't be around forever, and so forth.

I love history so much that I work in a living history museum, wearing a costume every day, and teaching school children about pioneer life. I have compiled a Texas History curriculum for my middle school students, and the two jobs go together very well. I have taken photos of historical places that I use in the classroom as teaching aids.

Maybe someday I will write a book and illustrate it with my own photos.