I am 31 years old and am from the Finger Lakes region of NY. My boyfriend and I recently purchased a home in Palmyra NY, about 30 minutes east of Rochester NY (home of George Eastman and Kodak!). I have 3 fur babies, a 3 year old cat named Oliver, a year old jack russell/ mix named Jax and and 7 month old black lab named Maddy.

I have been interested in environmental conservation since 2010. In August of 2010 I took an AmeriCorps position with the Nevada Conservation Corps. I worked in NV for a year doing trail building and invasive species removal at NPS, FWS and BLM locations throughout the state. I have also spent 3 months as a fire effect monitor at Mississippi Sandhill Crane NWR, 6 months as an invasive species and soundscape monitor at Homestead National Monument in NE and a year as an invasive species removal specialist at Tishomingo NWR in OK. I have also worked with the Nature Conservancy here in NY and Finger Lakes Community College. Currently I am a Certified Pesticide Applicator (Through the NY DEC) working for Mosquito Squad of Rochester.

I have two Associates Degrees from Finger Lakes Community College and a Bachelors in English from SUNY Oneonta. I also spent the fall 2008 semester studying at the University of Nicosia in Cyprus, which is an island located in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

I have an Olympus Stylus Tough 14MP camera that can take photos underwater and has a 5x wide optical zoom. I also hav a Fujifilm Finepix HS20EXR with 30x optical zoom.

I took a basic photography class while studying abroad. I enjoy photography but tend to rely on point and shoot setting more than I would like too. I also have 3 lens filters for my Fuji camera that I do not use ( or truly understand), and hope this class will help me begin to use them. I have a tripod, but it has yet to emerge after our recent move into our new house, hopefully it will put in its appearance before the class is over.