As a high school student, I received my first camera…an instamatic with nothing remarkable to set it apart from any other equipment designed for a beginner. But even then I wanted to do more than just take snapshots.

With no natural ability for traditional visual art forms such as painting, drawing or sketching, I still wanted to be able to capture something of the beauty I saw around me. Photography became my medium over the past 35 years or more. As cameras have evolved, digital cameras allowed me to experiment in ways that the cost of film would not. Since my mistakes did not cost any more than my successes, I experimented and began to learn how to use “real cameras” with things like aperture, changeable lenses, ISO settings, varying shutter speeds and the like. Not that I have had more than a cursory knowledge of my cameras, but I am learning more every year.

I am still trying to learn the seven basic elements of visual art — shape, line, space, form, texture, value and color—and how to incorporate them into my photography. Sometimes it works and I am amazed at what I have captured. Other times I realize just how far I have to go in learning this craft and art form! Like many other budding photographers, sometimes I see the picture I just took and think, “That came out of my camera!” I hope you find some of the beauty of God’s creation in my photographs and get a glimpse of His handiwork in what my camera caught along the way!