I always have a camera in my hand. It's been a staple since back before I can even remember, when I begged my parents to buy me a "real camera." In my head, that meant a camera that switched out lenses and made the other kids envious. One that took the best pictures! Well when I finally got my old 100% manual Minolta SLR, using it wasn't exactly as exciting as I expected. Taking pictures with that thing was HARD.
The first roll of film was all overexposed, and the second one completely black. It took a few [rather expensive] tries before I started to get the exposure right, but after not too long, I was hooked. Lugging that thing with me on tireless walks around my little suburb of Pittsburgh, I fine tuned my technical skills with endless shots of squirrels and stop signs and shirtless old men mowing the lawn. Like thousands of other people out there with a camera, I had the photo bug.
College snuck up on me and I toyed with quite a few majors at Penn State (Go Nittany Lions!), including photography and graphic design, before finally ending up a very indecisive Business grad. All along toting my camera around; spending all my money on film development, taking classes, and reading avidly on composition and lighting and exposure. But that business major was good for something; it got me a rather glamorous-sounding job with NBC Universal upon graduation, right square in Rockefeller Center, New York City.
I loved the energy of that city! Such a confluence of widely different people fighting for space. People-watching is one of my favorite ways to pass time, and it's so much more interesting with a camera in your hand! I saw gritty, contrasty images, at slow speeds with lots of motion blur. Dimly-lit doorstop corners at night, some quietly romantic and others mildly threatening. That city is RIPE with imagery. So when NBC gave me the option to transfer out to their Los Angeles location, I was not really looking forward to a move. But I packed up and headed out to the west coast, anyway. Why not?
And that's where it all started coming together... You can probably imagine that LA is full of opportunity for photographers. Not just the amazing variety of landscapes from mountain to beach, which of course are tough to pass up. But what a city of people clamoring for the limelight! It wasn't long before I was shooting headshots for hopeful actors. I was the "official" department photographer, capturing moments at summer picnics, dinner outings, and Christmas parties. Easily making contacts in the entertainment industry, I found myself booking other companies' corporate parties. And not long after that came the inquiries about weddings... what a whirlwind!!
That was about 5 years ago. I am now a full-time photographer, just relocated from LA back to the Pittsburgh area a few months ago. I'm starting my business all over again, building up contacts from scratch. Happen to know any brides? ;)
I love my job!!
