Clematis Miss Bateman

I became interested in photography at a very early age. My mother was the photographer in our family and if you could see the amount of photo albums she has, you would know that our lives were well documented. I don't remember how it came about, but I was given a box camera to use, don't know what kind it was, only that it had very large negatives. I soon learned that I had to savor each frame I used because when I took the last picture, who knows when I would get more film. And, as most people know, film photography could become very expensive in buying film and having them developed and printed. Over the years I've had several different cameras, but didn't buy my first 35mm camera until the early 80's, a Nikon EM. Even when I worked in a photo lab, it was still an expensive hobby. Add to that, that I never took any photography classes, so you could say I really didn't know what I was doing or what I needed to do to take great pictures.

It wasn't until one of our family reunions that my Uncle Jerry introduced me to digital photography. He pulled that digital camera out and he had my full attention. Here was a way to take as many pictures as you wanted at just the price of the camera and whatever medium it used to write them on. So, I did my research and my first camera was the Sony Mavica, CD400. Probably not the best camera, and I look back at the pictures that I took with it and think how horrible they really were, but it was a starting point for me. It was then that I knew I had to learn how to take great pictures.

The first thing I wanted to learn how to do was macro photography. I went to a half price book store and bought a few photography books. It was during the winter time, so I bought a membership to the local conservatory. I spent hours going over the books and seeing their techniques. Then I would go to the conservatory and practice those techniques. I would spent hours there every week, each time coming home so see what I accomplished. I will admit it was a bit frustrating at first, but I was finally starting to see the results of all my labor. Just like with the box camera, over the years I have had several digital cameras. It wasn't until 2005 that I finally bought my first DSLR, the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT. That is when I really started noticing a difference in my photography. Today I use the Canon EOS 7D. Todays photo was taken with that camera and is a direct result of all the practice that I have put into macro photography.

Prints and other products featuring this photo can be purchased at my gallery on PIXELS