About Me
After first entering a darkroom at age 14, I went on to study photography and writing at Rochester Institute of Technology and the University of Arizona. Though I was originally trained to use film and traditional black and white photography techniques, after my father gave me my first digital camera in 2001, I never shot another roll of film.
I am inspired by wide-sky deserts, the view through airplane windows, and the soft blue mountains of my Charlottesville, Virginia hometown. I've lived in six states and traveled through most others, which has given me an appreciation for Rand McNally, nightfall in small towns, hotel rooms for one, miles of heat-softened highway and cicada-swarmed country roads.
The hunting aspect of photography appeals to me. I track beauty—on foot or in my car—and when I'm very, very lucky, I get the image in my camera to match the image in my eye.
Some say that as photographers we are essentially "takers." But as much as I take, photography can also take from me. A certain quality of light can cause great pleasure, but the flip side of not being able to capture it—or seeing it without my camera handy—inflicts an almost physical pain.
I work in Washington, DC as a writer and photographer, and I live in Arlington, Virginia. I now shoot with Canon 40D and 20D digital SLRs and do minimal post-processing with Adobe Photoshop CS3 on a Mac platform. All images are available for sale in a variety of sizes with the option of custom matting and framing. I also accept freelance writing and photography assignments on any topic, and I'd be happy to provide clips upon request.
I hope you'll take a minute and tell me what you think of my pictures. By creating this Web site and joining the online photographic community, I'd like to get to know other people who are similarly fired up by light and shadow, color and line. Thanks for stopping by.
Erika