Photography: Stories Told in Pictures

I don’t know what took me so long. In high school, I wanted to take a photography class, but it didn’t fit in with my schedule. Even though I grew up with my dad’s darkroom in our basement bathroom, even though I took what my husband proclaimed were awesome DC cherry blossom photos with an early model cell phone camera, it never occurred to me to take a class. Until he said to me, “You know, you really should pursue photography. You have skills.” (Or maybe it was “skillz.”)

So I finally took a class. And I enjoyed it quite a bit and, once I bought a DSLR, took some pictures I thought were decent for a beginner.

What I love about photography is what I love about writing–the ability to tell stories, true ones, in ways that make my audience look at things just a little bit differently.

I wish I could say I kept at it. But I started grad school for writing and then I had a baby and photography once again got pushed aside. Even now that things are a little less hectic, I have to choose between photography and my first love, writing, when I have a little time between my full-time job and family.

But I’m trying to make an effort to pick photography back up at least once in a while. Especially to take photos of my daughter with more than my cell phone.

Since it can be challenging to catch a whirling dervish two-year-old, however, here are some photos of things that don’t move much, from a recent getaway my husband and I took to the Shenandoah Valley.

I still have a lot to learn, but I’m really enjoying the process of telling stories through another medium.