I was 10 years old when I took my first picture with my grandfather's
Brownie camera. It took the kind of film that rolled up in paper, and after all the pictures were taken, you
would take the roll to the nearest camera store for processing. Suddenly, the world as you saw it when you clicked the shutter was captured forever.
Barns with haystacks, grandma's apple pie, fireworks on the 4th of July-- What a delight to see the results!
In college, I landed my first job in a photomat in my hometown Quincy, IL. I packed orders and accepted jobs for processing.
Soon I was color correcting and preparing pictures. This was fun work, and I quickly realized I could earn a living from it.
After graduating from Quincy College in Quincy, IL with a fine arts degree with an emphasis in photography,
I landed a full-time position at Gamma Photo in Chicago, an imaging company. I worked there for 18 years making prints. I still took pictures with my Nikon SLR camera, but when I realized that the digital revolution was here to stay,
I learned Photoshop and bought my first digital camera.
Today I am an imaging specialist at a top-notch graphics company in Chicago, Andres Imaging, a Moss Company. I work on projects for popular retailers and institutions.
Photography has changed dramatically since I first picked up my grandfather's Brownie camera, but my delight in capturing
beautiful images through the lense is as strong today as it was then.