Hi I am Brenden Fleming. I am originally from Wonder Lake, IL. I definitely loved growing up and living there and I have returned back to Wonder Lake after living in different states, it was fun having life pulsating me from place to place. It seems I'm suppose to travel (no complaints here). I've always felt socially awkward as I always had a hard time talking to people, unless its comic book, travel, or nerdy related topics. I enjoyed playing sports growing up and still do, but mostly I stay active with hiking.

I remember in middle school when I was on the track and field team getting shin splits and I was no longer able to participate in the track meetings, but I still really wanted to be there for my team and I asked and begged to still be able go with the team to the meetings which I was able to do and I still showed up to practice as well (though I couldn't run or participate). When I showed up whether it was for practice or a team meeting I would bring my moms camera with me and starting snapping away. At the end of the year I was finally able to do a couple of meetings and made conference as well and when everything was over we had a party and there we had a powerpoint presentation that was on a loop of all the pictures I took of the team and our journey. I honestly believe that is where it all started for me to get into photography.

I really enjoyed watching videos of photographers going out in their field and showing some really cool trips and styles that you can do and capture. I didn't have Photoshop at the time or any kind of photo editing software, but I starting out doing editing what I call my clone pictures. Basically you keep the camera in one spot, put the timer on it and stand in a certain spot in view to capture that, then setup the timer again and stand in a different spot (and repeat if necessary). Also I should note that the camera I had at the time didn't have double exposure or anything like that so this is what I ended up doing. Then I would open each image in Microsoft paint and basically cut myself out of one picture and past in the other picture. Thus I was able to create my clone pictures (it took a long time to edit but really enjoyed doing it). I would play and do different things like this in middle school and when I was in high school. When I got to college, I had no clue want I wanted to do so I really sat down and thought it over, "what do I enjoy doing and what degree would get me to do it all the time?". Then looking back the answer was obvious and I started enrolling in photography classes the next semester and started working towards a degree in Photography and as well as creative writing. Though I ended up dropping out my last year of college due to personal issues and events that came up, I haven't stopped doing what I enjoy the most which is capturing moments or creating artist scenes with my camera.

I have won several awards for my photos, sold some of my photos, and even had one of my photos published in a book. I am currently working on going back to school to finish my photography degree. I hope to eventually either work commercially, start up my own photo business, or even teach photography to others. I am not sure where I will end up but I know if I focus on what I'm passionate about it will lead me in the right direction.