My Neighbor, The Photographer...

My neighbor is a photographer. She's also a writer, a musician, a teacher, a mother and wife. She's one of those people who excels at many things. It was from her I bought my new camera. The main reason it was for sale is because she bought a new one...a big, shiny new camera.

She has a blog where she showcases her photos. I've included some of what I feel are great shots on this blog, though in my opinion, her best work is photographing people. I haven't asked her permission to use any of these pictures and I didn't want to include the pictures she's taken of her family. Some people are leery (and justifiably so...) about having pictures of loved ones out there on the web. I hope it's okay I've included these pictures.

I had looked at her work before and I've always been impressed. She's got a real talent to see and capture a great photo. With the advent of digital photography and computer manipulation of pictures, it seems anyone with a camera and a computer can call themselves a photographer. Of course, they are photographers, but some are better than others--such is life.

Back when I was in high school I dabbled in photography. I even considered it as a career, but things turned out differently. I do take and post pictures now, and I know that most of my pictures are not the best, or the most artistic. I like the ones I choose to post for different reasons--mostly, they remind me of the day I had and hope to have the pictures trigger memories for me in the future.

Since there was a time when I wanted to be a professional photographer, I just assume everyone who takes the art form seriously has always wanted to be a photographer. I just found out that my photographer neighbor only got seriously interested in the craft when she bought the camera I have now about five years ago. This, to me, was very impressive. She's come a long way--I think--in a short period of time, to the point that she's considering turning pro and making money from her "hobby." And I don't think it's just so she can buy new photography gear (though, I'm sure, that has a lot to do with it...).