Photography – Denver
When I was a kid, I loved buying disposable cameras to take pictures with. I’d wait impatiently for my pictures to come back from Walgreens, or wherever my parents would drive me to get the pictures printed, and excitedly look through them with my friends.
Then my parents got a digital camera. That old thing took 3.5” floppy disks, but I thought it was so cool. I’d carry it around my neck when my mother would host Thanksgiving parties. I wonder, to this day, how many of those 3.5” floppy disks I filled with photographs.
When I turned 16 I got my own camera for my birthday. A little compact Fujifilm that took SD cards (a huge step up from the 3.5” floppy disk). I adored that thing, and it went everywhere with me. I started to see photography through a more dedicated eye, but never thought I had any talent with it.
My Freshman year of college (go Winona State Warriors!) I was loaned a Nikon D50 from my “Fairy Godfather”, Steve Noffke, a retired photojournalist, after I signed up for a photography class. That first day of class changed the course of my life. I knew, on that day, that photography was a passion of mine that wasn’t going to disappear. It wasn’t a “thing I was going through” like how I used to be obsessed with white tigers when I was 8. I knew that this was my dream, and I had to make it come true. I got my young hands on film, spending hours and hours of my five-year college experience in the darkroom. I loved the process and the art you can create with it. I learned from film how to take beautiful digital images.
My grandfather, Clinton, took photographs. Yes, I have his film camera he used to shoot with. My great-uncle Jim also took photographs, and I have his film camera accessories. I’d like to think that the passion for photography runs through my veins. That the fact that I have family members who admire the art as well plays a huge part in my story is an understatement. My story is just developing, and you can see it unfold through the images I take and share with you through my every day adventures.
I want to learn your story. I want to help you tell the adventures of your life through photographs with visual impact. A posed photograph is always nice, but that smile you shared in secret? That’s your real story.