I am often asked, "How long have you been a photographer?"
Most of my life, I think - starting when my parents gave me a Kodak Hawkeye Instamatic camera back when I was 8 or 9 - although I didn't
acknowledge
this art form's importance in my life until fairly recently.
I took a B&W photography course in high school, where I was introduced to a SLR camera and the traditional darkroom. It was through this experience that I began to discover how much joy photography gives me . . . Since then, I've photographed off-and-on, in-between going to college, launching a career, raising a family, and all the other activities that fill a person's life. Over the past ten years I had begun to rediscover my passion for photography, and often wished that in "my next life" I could be a photographer . . . 
Then towards the end of 2004 I found myself completely burned out from my chosen profession for the past 20+ years, and I decided that what I really needed was to do something really different and go "find" myself again. Having received catalogs from The Rocky Mountain School of Photography for a number of years, I had often dreamed of the day when I might be able to attend their Summer Intensive program . . . and in early 2005, I decided that the day had arrived. So, I quit my job, moved to Missoula and spent five magical months immersing myself completely in photography and learning more about photography - and myself - then I ever imagined was possible . . .
. . . And now I know, in my heart and in my mind, that I am a photographer! |
