Hello and welcome to my photo blog! My name is Amanda - I am a freelance photographer and graphic artist. My family and friends recommended that I start a photo blog since I am always taking pictures. My favorite pictures to take are of nature. I also tend to take a lot of my nephew. He is adorable and very photogenic. My goal is to post some of my new photos every day. I am usually the one taking the pictures so there aren't many of me floating around. In the interest of being fair I will start by posting a few pictures of myself when I was young. These were taken by my father.
I had a very happy childhood thanks to my wonderful family. Some of my earliest memories are of my father and his camera. Since this is a photo blog I think that I should tell you a little about the cameras that have been in my life.
My father had a Canon AE-1. Although I never used it, it is still the first camera in my life. Many thanks to my father - Michael Wiatr - for giving me an excellent role model while I was growing up. The memory of watching him snap pictures is one of the things that influenced me to try my hand at photography.
I always loved taking photos so there are a bunch of cameras that came next. None of them really had a lasting impact in my life. Mostly this is because I did not have the money to develop film, and therefore used them quite rarely. So lets flash forward - My first digital camera was a Kodak Easyshare CX4230. It sported 2 whole megapixels. Best of all, it meant no film costs! I got it in 2002. This is where I really got a chance to play around with photography. 
The next camera in my life was an Olympus OM-1. My stepfather loaned it to me for my Photography 101 class at College of Dupage. Thank you Ray Mehring for allowing me the use of your camera! It was a manual SLR. I learned all about aperture, shutter speed and developing my own film. No matter how much I enjoy digital photography there is still something to be said about manual cameras. You have a lot of control when you are in the darkroom. One day I hope to have my own darkroom and manual SLR. If I ever win the lotto that is. 
In 2005 while we were out exploring the garden my stepfather Ray took a photo of a bee using his Konica Minolta Dimage Xg. I remember being amazed at the detail in that photo. I believe his camera was only 3.2 megapixels - so I tried to take a similar photo with my Kodak – but all I got was a fuzzy yellow dot. Once again I thank Ray Mehring for taking that picture and spurring my interest in macro photography. 
Determined to capture a perfect bee picture I started researching cameras. I finally decided on the Nikon Coolpix 5900. This little Nikon made my Kodak look like a child’s toy. It was 5 megapixels and small enough for me to strap to my side –which meant I could bring it with me everywhere. The macro settings allowed me to take pictures of ants at less then an inch away! I was hooked!
In the beginning of 2009 I finally decided I needed a camera that was going to give me more control….I needed an SLR. Introducing the Nikon D60 - or as I affectionately call him ‘Shooty’.
In the beginning I was only going to bring Shooty out for professional photo shoots. Pete was still new and was to be my camera that would come with me everywhere. Heaven forbid I should be without a camera! Last time I made the mistake of leaving home without a camera there was a dancing Luigi with a guitar over by the bookstore. No seriously! If only I had my camera that day I could show you. Anyway, I have grown so attached to Shooty that I now lug him around everywhere. My mother can not understand why I would never carry a purse but have no problem lugging a heavy camera bag everywhere. I often try to explain to her that I would leave a purse everywhere I go (I am a little scatterbrained) but I could never leave Shooty anywhere. I have to say thanks for putting up with me and encouraging me to my mother - Linda Mehring. That concludes our journey down memory lane. Surprisingly I have not used any of my own photos in this blog post. I think to rectify that I will show you the first good bee photo I captured back in 2005 with my Nikon Coolpix 5900.
