I am just a typical human doing my best to make it through this life while clinging to a rock tumbling through space at a truly alarming speed. I make no claim to understand life or its meaning, but I know everything makes more sense when I am looking through a lens. I wasn't born with a camera in my hand but the moment I was old enough to work our family Kodak you can believe I was running around snapping frames.

For my 8th birthday all I wanted was a camera and I will never forget how proud I was to own that little thing. It was a tiny little point and shoot, probably not worth more than $30 but it was my whole world. I would walk for hours drifting to and from whatever plants, insects, or other small animals caught my gaze. That camera as my constant companion and together we took hundreds of photos until one day she could take no more and gave up on life.

Today I commonly walk about with $3,000 worth of camera in my hand but I still give credit to all the cheaper bodies that got me here. At the end of the day you need a camera to take a picture, but its the photographer who captures the moment, and learning how to do that can only be done the long way.