I'm an artist first and foremost. I have been drawing since early childhood. With limited money, stacks of scrap paper and a lot of time and creativity, I became pretty good at drawing near photographic and realistic photos. It was a powerful talent, and I learned young how to add things or leave things out of a drawing in the name of art. Motherhood for me came early, so my budget kept me drawing in pencil, charcoal, ink and pastels as I raised my daughter. Budget limitations have always been my biggest hurdle in any pursuit of photography but that changed with the digital age.
During these times, I was unable to afford a film camera, let alone the film and the development. The digital camera age put me on the fast track to taking as many photos as I wished, figuring out how to take better photos, then taking more. I take tens of thousands of photos a year. I started in 2002 with point and shoots, and had graduated to a DSLR camera in 2012. I have a few lenses and now a second infrared only body that I bought a year ago. I have numerous albums of photos. Upon taking these photos, which are mostly nature and wildlife photos, I have noticed that unlike when I draw, those pesky little things like signs and trash on the ground, and random tourists that photobomb my perfect setting can just be omitted. With photography, everything gets captured in my viewfinder. Sometimes the lighting and color balance was a little off, or the colors that my eyes and mind saw were not the same that my camera caught, so I turned to Adobe Photoshop. Now I can remove the 'trash' from my photos and correct colors and lighting for those times when I get the shot, but want to enhance it. I believe I have found the perfect marriage of my talent and skills.
Aside from being an artist and lover of nature, I am a mother, a grandmother, and a wife. I work in a field that allows me to work with my hands, in a sense creating things. My work is not steady, however that allows me time to be an artist which brings me a sense of balance. It also allows me to have time for my hobbies which include kayaking, hiking and playing rugby.