Finding the Light

15 years old. Middle of the San Bernardino mountains. Makeup Artist -> My Mother. Hair -> by me. One photographer. One film SLR camera. One sheet to change behind. And too many nerves to count. I can’t recall what lead me to this photoshoot. I just remember I was the photographers babysitter. I started many of my memorable events with other folks by first being their babysitter and this was no exception. I was intrigued. She guided me on posing… how to keep my fingers closed when grasping the tree. To loosely part my mouth. To look down at the floor and slowly look at the camera. To find the light with my face.

This conversation… this day… these words… all have followed me through the years.

I had a camera. You know the 110 film? I was constantly getting my friends in trees to “get the right shot”. I was happy to oblige when a friend wanted to snap a few of myself. It was fun. Harmless fun. I would snatch my Dad’s 35mm SLR and go to town. I would load it with black and white film and have photoshoot days with my best friend Nicole. This is what I did on my weekends. When I wasn’t doing this… I was playing with makeup. Reading beauty magazines. It was as if this has been ingrained in my blood.

I went to 4 different high schools my last two years. And each high school I went to, I made sure to join my two favorite extracurricular activities. One being working with the special needs students. And the other was being a part of the yearbook staff. Somehow, I even got asked to be the Sports Editor for the yearbook committee at my graduating high school. I was constantly checking out that dang camera to shoot around the school. I…loved it.

Come high school graduation, I loaded up all that I owned and headed back up that same mountain when I was 15. Only this time, I was on the hunt to grow closer to God. Fulfilled my first summer post high school worshiping, spending time with community, learning more about Jesus and… taking pictures of it all. Some of my greatest memories was taking pictures with the other workers at Thousand Pines Christian Camp. Headed down the mountain when the season was over… and took my first {and only} photography class. I joke now that this class was the ONLY class in college I ever successfully completed… and got an A in the process. Black and white photography, dark room and all. I was in love. Secretly wishing Jay Hernandez would whisk me away while I was developing my film like he did in the movie Crazy/Beautiful {ain’t gonna lie}.

I didn’t know that I loved photography. I just knew it was always a part of my life in some way or another. I continued through my 20s, photoshoots here and there. Helping new photographers with their portfolios. Giving them help when needed with their business.

But why I never picked up a camera since college… your guess is as good as mine.

My husband knows of my passion for photography. Not the camera {lol} but the images, the people associated with photography, photographers, the business, the marketing, the networking… all of the above. I think he believes in me more than I believe in my own self at times. Which is why for my 30th birthday he bought me a {new} DSLR camera. So here I begin. 7 months in and still learning. Learning the inner workings of my camera, correct exposure and white balance, how different lens interact with my camera, negative spaces, lines, rule of thirds, angles and framing, post processing, and how to find the light. All of the stuff I would have learned if I just took that next course in college… Or stuck with the used Canon 30D that I abruptly sold right after purchasing it. {Still kicking myself for these things} I’m not sure what took me so long, but I am so glad I finally get to learn this aspect of photography. And lucky for you {haha} you will get to “enjoy” my learning and sharing my images on this blog. I strongly believe a photographer evolves throughout the years so it will be very interesting to see how my images change. Hope you enjoy the ride with me…

xoxo,