My parents encouraged me in my love of art, and enrolled me in art classes from a young age, up until I went to high school, when I took art classes through school. I took as many art classes as I was able in high school, including 2 years of IB Art, which is similar to the AP program. I did not pursue art as a degree, but continued to make my own art, and I took one college painting class as an e
lective. I focused mostly on painting as my preferred art form, and have done watercolor, acrylic, and oil painting. I have been taking photos for almost as long as I’ve been drawing, but not quite. I received my first camera sometime in elementary school, and have been taking photos of everything around me since then. That first camera that I had was a film camera, but it was a cheap one. I started making scrapbooks of everything that I did, so I took many, many photos. When I was in middle school, digital cameras were becoming mainstream, and I got a cheap one. I have gotten progressively better and better cameras, which also makes sense since technology gets better and better, but I also got better quality cameras to correspond with my skill and passion increasing. I got my first DSLR camera about 6 years ago; a Nikon D60. It was a gift, and I didn’t quite know how to use it. I started to read the manual, but then took an online photography class to help my understanding. With my art background and long history of taking photos, I knew the aesthetic aspects of photography, but not the technical aspects, so the photography class helped me to understand the basics of how to use my camera in any setting. I have upgraded my camera now, of course, but I have also experimented with photography using my phone, and have purchased film cameras to go back to experimenting with that. I am constantly taking photos and learning from my own experiences, as well as interacting with other photographers to learn new techniques. I don’t think it is possible to know everything there is to know about photography; there is always something new to learn, and I am actively participating in that.
