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My name is john Anderson. I am the proud father of 2 AWESOME boys and a BEAUTIFUL girl. I am married to an AMAZING woman that has come to accept that my head comes attached with a camera :) I have always enjoyed photography. I was a point and shoot "picture taker". I especially enjoyed taking photos of the special moments. Three years ago I received a Canon 60D as a Christmas gift from my mother. I've been self taught up until this point utilizing Youtube and Google for the most part or asking loads of questions. Fast forward to August 2012. This is where my Christmas gift would really pave an interesting path. My right eye was bothering me for a while. Decreasing vision, blurriness and blue flashes. I went for an emergency visit to an Optomitrist to learn that I had a detached retina. (Whew... Nothing to serious) He immediately sent me to a specialty eye clinic in London Ontario that afternoon to possibly have it surgically repaired that evening. I was examined by the head of the clinic and was told that my retina was detached. It was detached because of an 8mm mass of Ocular Choloidal Melanoma Cancer growing under the retina. My wife at my side, we were both in shock and devastated by this sudden turn of events. Honestly... At this point. Photography was the last thing on my mind but I did think about it a little bit. I was booked into Princess Margret Hospital in Toronto Ontario the following week. During that week i had come to the realization that my love of photography and all the work I had taught myself had come to a screeching halt. The doctors gave me 2 options. Remove the eye, or insert a radiation plaque around the eye for a week. I opted for radiation. Still pretty down that photography was out of the question. I came across an article about a Philly Photographer named Jaleel King. http://500px.com/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=Jaleel+King Jaleel was shot at the age of 8 by an angry neighbor and was left paralyzed from the waste down. The story explained his challenges, his love for photography and how he combined the two to become a professional photographer. ( http://www.petapixel.com/2012/10/05/man-finds-new-life-as-a-photographer-after-being-shot-and-paralyzed-at-age-8/ ) I found the courage to reach out to Jaleel to explain my situation and to let him know how inspiring his story is. After corresponding with him I had an AH HA moment. I have a left eye that is 20/20. All I really have to do is move the view finder to the left about 3 inches and VOILA!!!!!!! I'm back in the picture taking business again. Since my surgery and radiation treatment in October I have been trying to perfect my craft. I am no longer allowed to drive a truck for a living because the vision in my right eye is only about 10%, and that remaining 10% is blurry. I have decided to take a number of photography courses and workshops with Kevin Pepper http://www.kpepphotography.com/ in hopes to become a professional photographer. I am thankful every day that I have another eye to capture what it sees. I am thankful to my family for all of their love and support and I am thankful to Jaleel King for his inspiration and his friendship. When life throws you lemons. Don't settle for lemonade. Make a lemon aid stand :) To everyone who stops by to view my photos. I hope you like them as much as I have enjoyed taking them. ~ John Anderson~ I BELIEVE WE WILL CONQUEROR CANCER IN OUR LIFETIME