I didn’t fall in love with photography because I needed to pay the bills. I didn’t pick up my camera and learn everything I could about it because I wanted recognition from an association or even my peers. I didn’t fall in love with photography because I wanted to be famous. I didn’t eat, sleep and breathe photography because I wanted to teach, and I didn’t fall in love with photography because I needed to compete.

I fell in love with photography because when I picked up a camera I felt whole. When I looked through the viewfinder, I felt alive. I learned everything I could about my camera because I loved showing people just how beautiful they really were – how extraordinary it was to freeze a single moment of time and preserve it forever. I ate, slept, and breathed photography as an artist, because it was the first time in my life that I could show the world exactly what I saw and how I saw it – more easily than any other medium that I had used before.  I fell in love with photography because it made me happier than almost anything I’ve ever done.

Almost ten years into this, I had almost forgotten all of that. I had to stop and remind myself of it today. I’m glad I did.