Someone asked me the other day why I'm drawn to photography... and since I don't have anything else that interesting to post on here...I'll post my answer.

First off when I say photography, I don't mean 'snapshots'. Snapshots are fun and wonderful reminders, but they tend to be taken quickly, (sometimes carelessly) and are often of events that are memorable on their own. (Christmas, Bday parties, etc.)

Photography to me is when the artist takes the time to stop and appreciate the beauty/complexity/ meaning in an object, scene or composition....

and then uses the camera as a tool to preserve that memory, feeling, or thought in an image.

Images can say so much and can be interpreted differently. A carefully shot image of a fragile flower could mean one thing to one person and something entirely different to another.

If someone had asked me this question five years or so ago (before I owned my first SLR camera) I would have shrugged and said that photos were just something to fill an album.

Now the answer is different in so many ways. My camera has become something akin to a journal. I've gone through several the past 5 years and am currently in love with my Canon Digital Rebel XTi.

I enjoy almost everything about photography, from deciding on a composition ,to analyzing settings, to tinkering in photoshop. There is so much to learn and it seems the more I learn..the more there is to learn. But I'm up to the challenge, I hope. :)

WHY? I enjoy being able to see something that speaks to me and then use my camera to preserve the thought in an image that can be shared with others.

It's fun to look back through my portfolio and remember how certain things caught my eye any given moment.

As always, feel free to stop by my photoblog

Dragonfly Chasing