While I've always enjoyed photography, even back in the film days, a real passion emerged in 2010 with a trip to the Southwest. In order to best capture our trip, I borrowed a Canon 300D DSLR, and 1200 pictures later, it opened my eyes to a whole new world of photography. I realized I wanted to capture not just the image, but the emotion and experience. They are still some of my favorite pictures today.

In the summer of 2011, the beloved Canon 300D broke and I finally made the decision to own my own DSLR. I purchased a Canon 60D before a trip to the Smoky Mountains and have been traveling with it ever since. Some other notable trips its taken has been to Joshua Tree and Southern California and to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons in 2012. For 2013, I'm hoping to make it out to Glacier National Park.

First and foremost I love landscapes, but living in Florida, I also love all types of wildlife photography.

I use two lenses--the 10-22mm wide angle and the 70-200mm f2.8L II. I sometimes use a 1.4x extender with the second lens. I generaly do not go overboard in post-procesing, although I may fix some basics, but I really like keeping the photo as natural as possible and just how I saw it in the field. Only in rare cases I may break out Photomatix to try something a little more bold, if the subject demands it.

A read of Edward Abbey's book, Desert Solitaire, really opened my eyes to what industrialism is doing to our earth. I feel passionately that we need to respect the beautiful natural landscape and diverse wildlife around us. I stay involved with the Audubon Society, the Sierra Club, and Greenpeace and support the preservation of our natural world. Once it's gone, it's gone permanently.

But most of all, I try to get out when I can and I really enjoy sharing my experiences. By sharing, your valuable comments help me to learn too. I always go straight to my contacts and really enjoy seeing what new photos have been posted and always leave comments. I've found Flickr to be a wonderful sharing outlet and will continue to enjoy meeting others and studying all of the beautiful photos out there.