Photography is my passion, ever since I held my first 35 mm camera in Brussels, Belgium. The Administrative Officer, John,  at the U.S.Embassy arranged for all interested persons to buy cameras from Hong Kong, and then he took us on field trip to the Grand Place.  I didn’t know anything about f-stops, exposure, light meters, etc., but John took a reading with his light meter and we were off photographing everything interesting in Tri-X black and white film, ASA 400.  This was before cameras had light meters built in. My camera was a Honeywell Pentax and I loved it;  it accompanied me on various travels through Europe.

Fast forward to the University of Iowa where my husband was working toward his Ph.D. in Mass Communications. Newly married, I wondered what to do. Get a job? I had secretarial skills, but I wanted something more interesting. Over the summer I noticed a catalog listing for a master’s program with a specialization in photojournalism. Before I knew it, I was enrolled.

This was in the days before GREs were so important. My husband, Larry, simply wrote to the head of the department saying I was interested, I was a good student, etc. etc., and the director wrote back to come and see him at registration. Which we did. I enrolled and sent my transcripts later. I even was awarded an assistantship editing an academic newsletter, so the cost was very affordable. Unlike grad students today, we both graduated debt free: Larry with a Ph.D. in Mass Communicatios and me with an M.A. in  journalism. photojournalism specialty.

In addition to developing basic photo skills (we used Yashica D twin lens reflex cameras) and taking photos for The Daily Iowan student newspaper, we also learned the essential skill of page design: crop and scale, layout for flow, pay attention to how the photos worked together on a page or in an essay to tell the story in a dynamic way.

While I took photos over the years for a variety of small newspapers, newsletters, and other publications…my favorite activity since digital photography came on the scene … has been creating photo books for family and friends. I’ve made well over 30 so far, and I think of them as my personal legacy. I started with life stories … mine, my husbands, and my children’s, and progressed on to documenting many family events and especially the development of my grandchildren.

Some grandmamas make quilts (as my own grandmother did), bake pies and cakes, sew little outfits, and more.  Me,I’m the family papparazza.