Hello all!!! My name is Leslie and I am a 32 year old single Mom who has recently found a love and a passion for photography.

After the birth of my son in February 2007 I became quickly obsessed with my Kodak Easyshare. I simply started off by taking pics of my son on a daily and almost hourly basis!

I was amazed at how tiny he was and I was blown away by how much love I had for him. I was even more mesmerized at how fast he was growing and I certainly didn't want to miss a moment of that! So I snapped away, every single chance I had, and I never left home without my camera. :)

My son amazed me on so many levels but I think his sheer excitement when he saw a new new color, a new bug, or a new toy was a huge eye opening experience for me. I was seeing the world through a child's eyes for the first time since I was a kid and it was absolutely exhilarating!

I dabbled here and there in picture taking and then one day I came across a website for women called CafeMom. I met other Mother's on there who had a similar interests as me - picture taking being one of them!!!!

After seeing the talent of others in photo groups that I belonged to my interest in photography peeked even more. I wanted to learn everything they knew!!! So I entered contests, started my own group and tried to pick up as much as I could from these very talented women.

After months of practice I started to feel confident and my skills as an amateur photographer were getting better and better. Then after a conversation, with 3 of my very good friends, I learned about New York's Institute of Photography. I looked into it a week later and enrolled.

I am still an active student at NYIP and I have to say that I am learning a lot and loving it! I have noticed a huge change in my picture taking over the past several months and I can only hope to get better. I have upgraded my Kodak EasyShare to a Nikon D40 and I am no longer living in the snap shot world but rather, I am living in a world of perfect beauty. :)