caramews' photostream  

I got re-bit by the shutterbug and will tell that to anyone else I see holding any form of camera! Because I'm 'relearning' photography I drink up the constructive criticism like my morning cups of coffee.

Photography was always something I liked. I am the youngest in a family of five kids and almost the whole time growing up in Southern California we were all close enough to get together for holiday celebrations and birthdays. Every get together the grown ups would hash out every possible posing combination so I saw lots of shutters and flashes going off! I didn't realize it at the time but it taught me to love spontaneity. Nobody in my family used fancy equipment so I also learned that it isn't the camera used, rather the efforts of who is behind the lens which make a photograph memorable.

I got more interested in the arts as I got older and at Capistrano Valley High School I took photography with Jay McIlwee. We had to use a 35mm SLR camera for the class and he had a few cameras for sale. I bought my Minolta X-7A from him and still use that body and lens assortment to this day. He was such a passionate man and really made an effort to relate to us kids. He always encouraged us to keep trying, to run with our new ideas, and to stick to our guns if something wasn't going so well in the darkroom.

After graduating from High School, I took a couple college level photography classes and had my horizons broadened further when I married my husband who is active duty military. My lens has had the wonderful chance to photograph the snows of Anchorage Alaska, many critters at Panhandle Welfare Society in Fort Walton Beach FL, the tropical paradise of Hawaii, and now the beautiful Rocky Mountains and surrounding area of Denver CO. We have been blessed with a humorous and willing model- our daughter who was born in July 2004. She is already showing a keen interest in photography and often asks to have her picture taken by me. She will also ham it up for other people once she makes sure they're OK in her book.

My equipment is nothing fancy but I love the images they have given me =)
Minolta X-7A with lenses and filters,
Minolta Freedom AF 35,
Sony Cybershot DSC-S50,
Canon Rebel XT
Nikon CoolPix P4
Not to mention many disposable cameras over the years!