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So, I'll merely say that I caught the bug from my parents.

Looking back, I smile when I think of my mother and her camera. As a child, my mom took a photography course and captured beautiful images of our Midwestern lives. Of course, I say this in retrospect because at the time, my sister and I actually despised when that piece of equipment came out. Today, we fight over these self-developed black and white photos.

In junior high, I loathed Mr. Phife's woodworking course. Coming from a home where my dad was not as masterful with power tools as he was with more academic endeavors, the only section which allowed me to earn an A was the photography unit. This two-week project gave our class the chance to take pictures and develop our own film. I was fascinated by the darkroom. (Though some of my classmates found this as chance to enhance their knowledge of "biology".) But then I stopped thinking of life with film.

Selecting a profession that is less than creative, I've always marveled at those with an artistic side. Writers, artists, songwriters, among others, have been viewed with a sense of jealousy as they were able to "create". Viewing my sister's phenomenal pictures, and my mother's resurgence in the hobby, I wanted to see if I could follow in their footsteps. Add this to how someone close to me began producing phenomenal jewelry, and it was obvious that I had to take my chance.

Purchasing a Canon PowerShot SD 780 in January 2010, I began my journey.

Since that time, I've purchased a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX 5, Canon P Rangefinder, and Canonet QL-17. Not to mention that I left BlackBerry for the HTC Evo...only because it had a better camera.

I've been published on a variety of websites, won the 2010 "UrbanPaterson" photo contest, and recently had eight photographs selected for "The Project Greenville/Images of Jersey City" photo exhibit.

Yes, this has been a fun hobby thus far....

- BCL, June 26, 2011