Photography is an important part of my family culture. I grew up on slide shows that my father made of all the trips we took and my brother had a darkroom in our basement. I started taking pictures myself with a Leica Dad gave me when I was in my teens. We were always an outdoorsy family: hiking, canoeing, swimming, and in general enjoying the beauty of the natural world. National Geographic and Audubon Magazine were my standards for excellent photography; Eliot Porter was my god. I ended up in a career in medical microbiology research, but I never stopped walking in the woods with a camera. When I married an architect, he taught me to look at buildings, too, so now we try to vacation in places where we can broaden each other's sense of awe. Sharing an experience makes it even more special. I take pictures because I want to say to my viewers "Look at this! Isn't this amazing!"