I have always been a photographer, even before I knew it. (Well, maybe I was always an artist and the camera was the pair of glasses that helped me see the world the way I pictured it in my mind.) Whether I am taking photos, singing, writing poetry, or attempting to play the guitar, all of that is who I am as a person. I don’t try to be someone else, I only know how to be me and I will always find a way to express myself.

Over the past several months I have finally started to realize how important photography is to me in my life.  I love it so much that I want to share what I know with others so that they can create beautiful memories to show their friends, families, children, grand-children, etc. I love it so much that I am incredibly broke because I am trying to make it a full-time job (and I cringe when I realize that it is probably not a realistic endeavor at the moment).  I want to be inspired, creative, and hopeful all at the same time.

Will I be able to do all of this? I think so, but I know that I’m not at my best quite yet. Tell a little kid to draw a picture and they basically are opening up a door to their little world. Sometimes I feel like I’m that little kid, and my photos are telling a story about my life … and right now my life is like a Lensbaby at f/2.8.

But that won’t stop me … I won’t slow down now & I’m only picking up speed. Come along for the ride if you like, but hold on tight!  And don’t even think about getting in my way.

A week ago I had the pleasure of meeting up with some wonderful people and taking part in a contributor-organized iStockphoto event in Salt Lake City, Utah.  The event was fun, energetic, and a crazy weekend of non-stop photography.  I decided to bite-the-bullet and rent some gear (a Nikon D700 and 14-4 f/2.8) and I am sooo glad that I did. I have a few photos posted on my Flickr page,  and there is also an official iStockphoto lightbox that will slowly be filled with images from the event … check it out here.

For those of you not familiar with this type of event, a “Mini”-lypse is a scaled-down “unofficial” version of an iStockalypse (which is an official iStockphoto event held a few times each year throughout the world).  With that being said, I don’t think that this event could be called “mini” … it was more of a “Macro’lypse”, IMO. ;)  Todd and Renee did a very impressive job of setting this up from start-to-finish and went way beyond what was expected!

Also, keep on the look-out next month for a few videos of the event.  Because I rented a different camera, it left my D200 free to sit on a tripod and do some timelapse shots. I’m still in the process of piecing it together (and still need to get some more footage while I’m in SLC again next week) but I’ll be posting it here as soon as it’s ready.  There were also some videographers who volunteered their time to interview and document the event from start-to-finish.  More on that when it’s available.

I want to give a huge thanks to Todd & Renee for putting this event together, and it was also great to see again and meet up with all the other awesomely talented photographers, models, makeup-artists, designers, and everyone else who took part in the event.  All of this would not have been possible if not for everyone involved … I feel very blessed to be a part of such an enthusastic, open and caring community of people. :)