Zee Anna Photography: Hi There! Want To Be My Friend?

After months of dragging my feet, I have finally started a photoblog of my work. I will be posting photos, talking about my experiences while making the photos, and in general, I'm just going to talk photography - a lot. I love photography and I love what I do. I am constantly learning and trying to do different things.

I started my love for photography when I bought my first camera in 2005. It was a badass sony cybershot 7.2mp camera. (It still takes better pictures today then most cameras on the market, except I gave it to my little brother and it's gone now). Now, at the time, I just thought it was so cool, my first big purchase (I was 16 and paid for it with hard earned cash) and my first digital camera. I remember in 2005, having a digital camera was just starting to get semi-affordable (the sony was $400), and I was just taking pictures left and right - I loved it. With the creation of myspace and photobucket, sharing photos was easy and fun. But I wasn't a photographer, I was just someone with a camera.

In 2008, I bought my first used DSLR, the A100 (another Sony), and was absolutely terrified of it. It had so many buttons, knobs and do-hickeys. I thought it was SO BIG. (Ha, you should see some of the gear I lug around now. A100 below)

I have then become known as "the girl with the camera." I took pictures of birds, bugs, and plants. Things that didn't move. I soon started getting competitive among some photography friends, but then I got bored and my camera got packed away.

For the next few months it sat in my closet, untouched, unloved, unnoticed, until my trip to Chicago, and eventually meeting James Greco, my mentor.

I met James Greco, current photography instructor at Florida Gulf Coast University at an FGCU event during Spring 2009, and we started talking photography. He convinced me to take his photography class in Fall 2009, and we kept in touch via Flickr, just up until I became heavily involved in his class.

I panicked when I found out I got into his class. I was completely worried that I would suck so badly everyone would laugh, because I thought that the photography class would be filled with photography students who wanted to do this kind of art as a living, and all I wanted to do was take better pictures.

So I started preparing over the summer for his upper level digital photography class - I started my Project 365 - self portraits. As it turned out, I was one of his best students (ever) and his expectations of me kept me pushing the envelope and creating better and better pictures.

Day 1/365

From June 2, 2009 until June 1, 2010, I cried, whined, cheered, shared, loved, broke hearts, had my heart broken, battled, got explored, took crappy photos, made tons of friends, made some enemies, and changed my life.

I started my 365 as a way to force myself to use my camera and prepare for a class. I ended with something way better: a ton of close lifetime friends, some amazing photos, and the discovery of talent I thought I never possessed - I finally called myself a photographer.

Fast forward to today. If you want to catch up and find out more of the nitty gritty details of my life, head over to my Flickr, add me as a contact, and let's be friends :)

Today, I still have those up and down days where I think I suck monkey balls in photography and want to throw in the towel, but I'm too deep in this to stop now. Photography is and will always be a part of my life and I plan to pursue this and see where it takes me.

Will you join me in my journey?