My name is Angie and I'm addicted to photography....

A brief history (maybe not totally brief..) of me and photography. It runs in my family and for as long as I can remember I've been creatively inclined but severely lacking in ways of expressing it.
Enter my father, National Geographic and a reckless abbandon for finding a way to show things the way I see them.
National Geographic showed me life beyond suburbia...And showed me the wonderful world of Nikon. I saw photographers laying in mud for days, traversing rivers with several cameras and bags to get that one shot, that one true vision lurking in their mind....and I was hooked.
My father encouraged me to find a way of expressing myself and being a very intelligent man about photography let me begin to "tinker" with his camera. The first time I was "let loose" with it, I was 16 and in Yellowstone National Park. And I fell in love with shooting a certain elk I came across. I had a sense (rather reckless looking back on it now) that I could "be a part of his world"....What can I say? I was young. My father gave me tips and helped me understand exposures but let me go it mostly alone. I spotted this elk once in a meadow with a few other and he was rather impressive. Most hunters would have been happy to have his antler on their wall I'm sure. I took plenty of pictures and then he moved on, wanted to follow but lack of more film and my mother insisting I get back kept that from happening. Then came the next day and I spotted him again. This time I was determined to get close, much closer then you should get to those animals. They were in a small valley and I slowly worked my way around and down still taking pictures, until I was sitting in the middle of the small group. All the while I can hear my parents telling, asking me to get back and away from them. Now I was aware that all my actions would affect the elks reactions and made very slow and cautious movements. For those brief moments sitting in their world as it were, was amazing. I still took pictures, not that often as it wasn't that quiet of camera. The elk paid me no mind, slowly eating around me smelling me and then moving on. I made no move to impede them and sat still just observing them. After several minutes they moved away and I slowly made my way back up the valley to my parents who were not as thrilled as I was to say the least. But I knew that was what I wanted from then on. I wanted to take pictures and see life from the view of the people/animals/flowers...Whatever it was that I shot. The pictures I took were OK...Not the best but the memories of being there and seeing the video (yeah there's a video of crazy me and the elk) made up for it.

My father bought me my very first SLR that Christmas and I was stoked to say the least. My mind filled with all the cool things I could do (Indonesia here I come....) then quickly I was slapped in the face with the reality that I had a LONG way to go. I took a semester of photography in high school, but rarely did the work. I wasn't interested in the book learing....What aperture was needed for what conditions...What light sources would do what...It all bored me to death. But having a camera, friends and an imagination....led to some cool pictures, I was able to get by with out the apparent knowledge of cameras that many thought was required. A picture was a picture....under exposed over exposed....if you didn't have a great scene to begin with, nothing else mattered. Then came the day when I realized photography costs money. I realized that film, especially black and white, wasn't cheap...and having to buy your own paper was insane amounts of money at the rate in which I took pictures. My father sat me down and explained how much he had already paid for my class, and how much he still had to pay..... needless to say I felt kind of bad for racking up a 3 digit bill in a high school course. Then came the day when I realized I had to pay for it myself.... and sadly had to put it up for lack of money.

Pass by a few years and I've taken some casual shot...Vacations, b-day parties...Nothing to the level of what I liked....But a memory was captured here and there. I was asked why I didn't take pictures anymore, and explained several times that money just isn't there for it. Let's face it....Film photography was expensive...Even with costco processing and bilk film discounts, it added up to $$$. My camera had been loved and abused over the years and after a few years of marriage Chris bought me the camera of my dreams... a Nikon N90s. I had drooled over that thing for years and years. It was light years above my humble Minolta, vertical grip, 4.5 fps continous shutter, fully auto/manual, more attachments and gizmos then I could have ever imagined (but wanted none the less)...It was the camera I had dreamed about and finally was mine. I took pictures constantly, and costco saw plenty of my money is processing and film. When I got the camera there was the emergence of something called Digital Photography, Chris was all about me doing that...But I adamantly refused. Film had a way better detail range then digital and wasn't about to abandon it. For a while I held strong to film and it continuously appeased me. Until it is that we a trip home for Christmas, a very special Christmas....our daughter's first one and first time meeting the whole family. A huge photo op of course and I was prepared with several rolls of film and plenty of batteries. A great trip home and we were excited to see the pictures from it. Then absolute shock when costco informed me that all of my pictures were ruined. The lead technician talked with me for several minutes while I explained all about my camera, film and then explained that the airport technicians had misinformed me about their scanners. Increased security measures had scanned my film and exposed it before I even borded my plane home. 14 rolls of 36 exposure film...500 pictures gone, I was pissed. I was mad at costco, the airport, the film, my camera....I had lost the pictures of Pria's first Christmas because of National Security and misinformed personal. I packed up my camera and said I was done. About 6 months later, Chris brought up digital again...I was hesistant of course, but when to a camera store and talked for hours with the guy and was finally sold. I still dounted it's capability compared to film (in some ways I still do) but I bought a Nikon D70 and the snowball was let loose and started rolling....and gained speed quickly. The first week I had it, I shot about a thousand + pictures...and all it took was my computer and a card reader to see them. No processing required...no more money to see an out of focus shot. Quickly I acquired lenses, filters...gadgets and more gadgets (got to love gadgets) and was finally able to take pictures at the rate I wanted, but still afford. I was offical hooked couldn't get enough.

I may have more then the average person in terms of photo gear, I'm sure I always will, but I have far less then I want. I'm not a pro (nor do I want to be) but I'm not an amature. I try and get the good deals, best lenses for best price and ebay....ebay....ebay. I've definitely spent plenty of money on it, far more then I'm sure most people realize or that Chris wants to know. But like my father said, I'd rather pay more for something worth it that you will use....Even though I've supassed his approved spending limit with little signs of slowing down. But I've finally found the one thing I always wanted to do....granted not to the limits I wanted...But with a family and budget I manage ok. I'm sure my family would say I've managed to do more then ok :)

Yeah I'm sure there are typos...please forgive them :)