Peach Rose

Soft peach rose close-up

Early in my tinkering with professional photography I could barely afford the tools I wanted let alone the best lenses money could buy. I was forced to scrounge for used and not quite perfect items to get the affects I wanted. Now, years later, I have some better tools but I still use most of my early toys.

I have a combination of filters that cause a soft halo around the outer areas of the photograph, although that was not their original intention. We call them my "fuzzy flower filters." I would not trade them for even the latest and greatest lenses.

I love to encourage people who are interested in Photography. The tools can be intimidating but they do not have to be. In the end they are just tools, the art comes from the person behind the lens.

At the Art Walk last Sunday there was a young girl, about 10 years old, who was very interested in how I got my close-up flowers. I gave her a short explanation and she seemed very interested. So I continued to tell her more about the different types of lenses. I was much younger than her when my parents encouraged me with my photography, so I would never underestimate a child's curiosity.

Who knows, some day maybe I'll run into her at her booth at the Art Walk!