Hello! Welcome to a little bit about me.  If you know me, you know that sometimes I overshare; so I will try and keep this short, but probably not...

I started creating portraits many years ago.  It started when my husband bought a Canon Film Camera for himself right before our son was born. BTW this was before digitals!  Say what!!!  Yep.  I learned manual using film.  EEEKKKK.....  I would take the camera from him and take photographs of our daughter and son even though I did not know what any of the buttons meant.  My husband tried to teach me and was mostly successful.  The exposure triangle definitely did not stick.  OH NO!!!!  I wasted some film and did get some really cool portraits.  He was curious to what I was doing to get those images because my perspective was different than his.  He always encouraged me except when he needed or wanted to use the camera - every third day.  (All you fire wives understand that!)  You can say that I was one of the original "Momographers".

As our children became older, one of the fire departments that my husband worked at was looking for a volunteer photographer and told me that I should do this.  I soon became a Volunteer Photographer to one of our local fire departments.  It was an awesome experience.  I would take headshots of the firefighters and also respond to calls and take photographs of the scene.  Some of the images were great and some were what I called "ART".  Usually my shutter speed was too slow or there was not enough light.  I learned quickly that I needed a little more training for these types of photographs so I decided to take classes to learn more.  It was especially important to know how to capture these images because some would become evidence in finding the cause of fires/accidents and even finding and identifying arsonists that were on the scene.  It was shortly afterwards that the digital camera was introduced.  This became a game changer because you no longer had to manage the number of images.  It was shortly after this that I decided to go to nursing school and become a nurse- My daughter was in college and my son had just graduated high school and joined the Air Force.  Did I tell you that I did this volunteer and I worked full time as Certified Medical Assistant.  I also became an EMT for the Fire Department while doing all of this.  (I told you I sometimes overshare!)

During my nursing school I could not dedicate the time needed for volunteering any more, so I left the fire department to focus on studies.  The passion for photography was still there.  So much so that as a student I could buy photoshop at a student rate, so I did.  (They did not say that you had to be a photography student).  During my downtime, I would still take photographs and teach myself photoshop.  Then graduation was coming.  My husband asked what I wanted for my Nursing School graduation.  I told him I wanted studio lights and backgrounds for photography.  My youngest sister came over to my house before my graduation and I was so excited to show her what I got for graduation - Studio lighting, background stand, and a new background.  She had such a puzzled look on her face and I still laugh when I think about it.  She squinted her eyes and quickly asked, "Did'nt you go to Nursing School?"  I quickly told her I did, but this was my fun thing to do and will help me create.  (Did I mention oversharing?)

So the ER Nurse and Photographer journey began....  to be continued.....