The Artist In Me

Today I was talking to a new friend and I said something about taking pictures. She said, "Oh, are you a photographer?" I smiled, laughed a little and said, "I dream of being a photographer. I like to go out and pretend that I am a photographer but really I am just a girl with a camera." She then laughed and said, "Oh, you really love it. Your face just lit up like I haven't seen it light up before. What do you love about it?"...

What do I love about taking pictures? Everything. I love when I am driving down the road and I see something that makes me pull over because I will probably never get that shot again. I love it when I see ordinary things like gas station signs, trees, dogs, traffic lights and the way that the light is hitting them turns them into something extraordinary. I love the process of taking many shots trying to get the camera to capture exactly what my eye saw without it. I love the way people are drawn to things in pictures that they never take the time to stop and look at in regular life. I love it when I can capture someone's personality in a photo; when you look at it later and know that is exactly who they are. I love that taking pictures forces me to slow down and enjoy my life and everything in it. I love that when I look through my camera, I can say that I am an artist and actually believe myself.

And that is what I love about taking pictures.