I feel like I have always viewed the world through a frame. This started long before I seriously picked up a camera. I was a kid, bored in the car, and I'd watch the scenery fly by, consciously composing a frame in my mind. It was during these car rides that I learned how to recognize the beautiful in the everyday and to isolate the unique by framing out the ordinary. Years later, when I started taking pictures, I found myself going through the exact same processes I had when I was younger.

In my teens, I developed somewhat of an appreciation for art, with a special interest in photography. I'd go out of my way to visit the galleries in my school's art department or spend my lunches in the library pouring over back issues of "American Photo" and other arts magazines. When I finally picked up my dad's Nikon Coolpix at 18, it was long overdue. Intimidated by the options of his new camera, he had me figure it out during a cross country road trip. Again, I was composing frames in the backseat of a car, but this time with a camera in my hands. By the end of the trip, I had an understanding of the basics, not to mention I was completely addicted. I kept borrowing my dad's camera until the next summer, when I got my own. An Olympus digital point-n-shoot, it was the little camera that could. I took that camera everywhere with me and learned it inside and out. I learned how the different modes could change the look and how to push it to its very limits. After arriving at its limits, the next spring I got my first SLR, a Nikon D50.

These days, I take most of my pictures outside, rarely from the backseat of a car anymore. I haven't stopped framing the world though, if anything I do it more. Photography has taken me to some amazing places I wouldn't have gone if I wasn't trying to take a picture of it. It has taught me to slow down and appreciate nature and beauty. It has shown me the beauty of the everyday world around us. It has pulled me out of bed for many sunrises I never would have seen. It has shown me God's goodness and the beauty of his creation.

Regardless of the photograph, a question I'm often hesitant to answer is, "Was that photo manipulated?". Photography, by it's definition as "light painting", is a manipulation of light, not even a manipulation of reality. In making a picture, the photographer uses the camera to manipulate light and record it, then in the darkroom, chemical or digital, he manipulates his record of light until he turns it into the final print. A photo is not "captured reality", but rather the photographer's interpretation of reality. There are an infinite number of variables that impact a photo, it is the photographer's job to manipulate them into singular vision. This does not discount photography, but rather takes it from the sciences and elevates it to an art form.

Thanks for taking the time to look at my photos. I hope that you've enjoyed them and that they have inspired you to recognize the beauty in the world around you.