How it started...

My interest in photography came early when my dad got a nice Olympus SLR film camera when we moved to Africa. I remember loving to use the 'big zoom' lens that he had to get pictures of everything but specially people's expressions real close! It was in High School my senior year that I finally got my hands deep into the heart of photography. I got the chance to take a photo class and also be one of the yearbook photographers. Not only did they give us cameras to use, but we were able to develop our own stuff! I got to know the darkroom real well and was fascinated by how pictures just 'appeared' after putting the exposed paper in those chemicals. I learned a lot from my teacher and to this day I give a lot of credit to Dave Tiezen for sparking my interest in photography. 

When I got to college there wasn't really any photo opportunities for me to pursue and I was more obsessed with futbol anyways. However once I graduated from Nyack an opportunity came up to be the Staff Adviser for the college yearbook. I joined and picked up an SLR camera for the first time in years and remembered how awesome it felt to hold one of those puppies! I took photos of everything, all the school events, music, concerts, sports, whatever. I convinced our administration to get a digital SLR and so the Nikon D100 became the first digital SLR I was able to get to know well. 

Soon enough I was ready to upgrade and started using the Nikon D70. At this point in time was when I got my first real job opportunity from Julie who had just graduated and needed a photographer for her wedding later that summer. I hesitantly accepted the offer and studied like crazy that whole summer before the wedding. After all I had NEVER done a wedding so I couldn't screw this up! The day came and I found myself getting so caught up in the whole day, the emotions, the camera settings, lighting, the stress of making sure that you catch those moments and everything else that came with the day. At the end of it all I was exhausted and felt like I had just played a 90 minute soccer game! When I finally gave them their pictures Dan and Julie loved them which made me so excited and hungry to do all that all over again! 

I was hooked!

However I didn't really want to offer my services unless people actually wanted them. So I waited to see if word would somehow spread and through the help of some friends letting other couples know I got my next job and then the next and the next and then next and as they say the rest is...well... history in the making! 

It's been absolutely amazing how couples have spread the word from one wedding to the next and how I've been able to meet up with these couples and capture their day for them. I am always so honored that I can be so close to what is one of the best days of their lives and be able to see and capture those amazing moments between them and their close friends and family.  

I'll be posting some more of these images from back in the day in future blogs....as well as some more current stuff!