My passion for photography began in my early teens. My county fair blue ribbon winning image was shot with a Vivitar Instamatic.

I was given my first 35 mm camera, a Canon AE1 for my 16th birthday. This camera saw me through earning my Girl Scout Gold Award with a slide show set to music promoting scouting for my local council-not so easy in the pre computer age.

I graduated from Colorado Mountain College with a degree in photography and a love of black and white images. I then set off across Colorado exploring other interests: snowboarding, woodcraft and floral design among many others.

While I continued to use my camera it wasn't until a necessary move back to California that I rediscovered my passion for photography. However my first employment in California entailed evaluating and testing and training dogs for search and rescue-a new passion for dogs quickly developed. During this time I was also caring for my Mom who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. After working in the search dog field for 6 years I had to leave my job to care for her full time. This change in my life brought about the discovery of combining my two passions, photography and dogs.

I've spent the last few years refining my ideas of capturing the canine image as art. After a brief time of using set design and lighting to create images I returned to my roots of black and white photography and natural lighting. There I found I could truly capture the soul of the individual canine.

Another lifelong passion for nature and travel provides me with the opportunity to capture images of our outdoor world as well. They are wonderful reminders of the beauty that surrounds us right outside our doors during those times when caring for my Mom keeps me inside.

A meditative, restoring and rejuvenating past-time for sea glass hunting took my on my most recent quest of learning to make jewelry that incorporates sea glass. I am grateful to all of life's changes for the opportunities that have come my way.

I hope that I will continue to recognize those opportunities and look forward to the new directions and discoveries that will come my way-be they in photography or new passions waiting to be found.