I am an American living in Italy for a few years and loving the opportunities to take photos of what's around me here and on our trips around Europe.

My Dad got involved in photography when he took a class and he then created a dark room in our house which in turn made me considerably interested. I delved a little as a child, taking pictures and developing with his help. I remember one picture I took of a kitten hidden amongst a textured background of wood and stone. We enlarged it and entered it in a photo contest and I had my first and only award in photography. I received my first 35mm camera from my parents when I was 16 and I have many rolls of film of those teenagery shots (picture of self in mirror, picture of awards from high school, picture of my shadow on roof of house feeling all sorry for myself) I smile at the memories. Then I moved along, got a job, got married, had babies, and photography was just a way of keeping track of our lives like birthdays and trips. The art of photography went by the wayside until we arrived in a whole other country.

I didn't really get into learning the real thing until we came to Italy when there was so much to take pictures of. One camera led to another, to another and a spark of creating art has transpired. I'm definitely an amateur willing to learn as much as I can and am in the process of learning the technicalities of the camera I have in hand. At the moment, I own a Canon EOS Rebel XT 350D with 50mm macro, 18-55, and 75-300 telephoto lenses. I also have a Minolta Dimage Z3 with some good manual modes which started my interest in photography again and led to the Canon.

I love taking pictures and get such a thrill out of trying to outdo myself, but I am my toughest critic. I like photography just from the pure joy of it and hope what I do portrays that outlook.