Photographer

According to Merriam Webster:

Main Entry: pho·tog·ra·pher
Pronunciation: f&-'tä-gr&-f&r
Function: noun
: one who practices photography; especially : one who makes a business of taking photographs

I try to think back to when I first felt comfortable calling myself a photographer...  It took me a long time. 

I started portfolio building...  mostly taking photographs for friends and family in 2004.  I certainly was not a "photographer" back then.  I wasn't making a "business" of taking photographs.  I felt that the practicing portion of the definition was very important.  I was practicing and learning the basics... shutter speed, aperture, depth of field, ISO, composition and on and on and on...  :)  I felt like it was important for me to have a basic understanding of photography and to know what I wanted out of a session before I asked people to trust me with their children and actually pay me for this service. 

So, I practiced and I practiced.  And I practiced some more.  I drove my children crazy.  They would actually groan at the sight of a camera!  My Mom got tired of me giving her pictures... a grandmother that was saying that she had too many pictures!  Yes, I was driving them all crazy!  But I learned.  And I made a business of taking photographs. 

But my goal isn't only to take photographs.  It's to capture your child just as they are...  the silliness, the expressiveness, the child.  I want you to look at one of my photographs of your child years down the road and remember... that together, we captured him just as he was.  And I want to create not only a photograph that you will cherish, but a work of art.  ...your life as art.

I am a photographer.