Photography is the perfect marriage of art and science.
I don't know who originated this comment, but it certainly was a revelation
to me when I first heard it. As a young boy I often spent hours drawing
sceneries or just about anything else that happened to spark my imagination.
In my teenage years I nurtured my artistic skill with a pencil and was
drawing large scale scenic renderings which were quite good as I was told.
I also dabbled in pastel and watercolor work, but my colors were often
too bright. However, I believed that with formal training I could someday
become a commercial artist.
Intrestingly during these same years I became increasingly fascinated with mathematics and science and was always trying to figure out how things worked. The engineering side of my intellect was assuming the dominate role and the potential artist became the computer programmer; a career lasting more than 35 years.
When I bought my first DSLR, a Canon Rebel XT, it was the result of impulse buying and just another electronic toy to add to the adult toy box. It was certainly destined to be shelved in a matter of months after the novelty wore off. I had no idea what was going to happen this time. I was helplessly captivated by the quality of the images I captured with this camera. There simply was no comparison to the “point and shoot” cameras that I had used before. I was totally fascinated with the electronics of the DSLR and the science of aperture settings, shutter speeds and ISO settings. I needed to learn more and, because of the advice of a close friend, I enrolled in two Digital Photography Courses at Middlesex Community College in Bedford, MA. This was not only the start of my more thorough understanding of the mechanics of using the DSLR in the manual mode of operation, but the equally important aspects of image composition and using the available light to capture beautiful artistic moments in time. The dormant artist was coming back to life!
Today I would describe digital photography as an ever increasing and demanding passion in my life. I am an active member of three camera clubs and I have spent thousands of dollars on cameras, lenses and studio lighting. I have a photography library that is becoming impressive and I view on-line tutorials about Adobe Photoshop CS5 and Lightroom 3 on a weekly basis. When the weather is photographically permitting I am outdoors with my camera usually around the ocean which is my favorite place. Equally interesting and definitely more challenging is photographing people in a studio environment using artificial lighting. I enjoy photo sessions with models, couples or families and have even considered photographing people with their pets which has to be challenging to say the least.