roseblite's photostream  

My name is Melissa Victoria Fernandez. I am a first generation Cuban-American born in Miami, Florida and raised in Hialeah. When I was twelve years old my older sister invited me to the neighborhood park to launch a model rocket. She handed me a Minolta SLR to photo document the rocket on its maiden flight. I was hooked to the art of photography from the moment my right eye peered through the viewfinder. Since then I have developed a passion for detail, color and composition that continues to grow.

At age fourteen I started working after school to fund the purchase of disposable cameras and the cost of developing my photos. In my junior year of High School I enrolled in a photography class where I used the same old Minolta SLR (now with a broken light meter) to learn the basics of composition, camera settings, developing techniques and dark-room photo editing. The following year I enrolled in a more advanced photography course. My parents realized photography was a serious passion about and gave me a new Vivitar 3800N for my birthday, which I gratefully used to complete my assignments.

During college I worked free lance photographing chemistry experiments for an organic chemistry text book. I saved all the money from this job to purchase my first real DSLR, a Nikon D60, and a couple lenses.

Today I am a resident of New York City and I am focused on developing my digital photography skills with my Nikon.

I have two websites. My photo portfolio is located at MelissaVictoria.com and my photoblog at RoseBlite.com