I got my first camera at the influential age of 4 from a very arts and photography orientated family and-

Actually you, know what? I’m completely lying out my rear. I got my first camera, a Canon Rebel XSi, at the not-so-young age of 19 and the primary reason why I got a camera at all was because I’m a tech nerd, and it was on sale for boxing day. Inspirational, isn’t it? I had never taken a proper photograph in my life before that first camera either, nor did I have any other artistic talents. I did however play with a DSLR for about 5 minutes once, before I got my first camera. It’s what piqued my interest into camera tech in the first place.

It didn’t take me long to fall in love with photography though. I spent half a year playing with it, learning about every feature it had, and trying to learn how the pros made their photos look so… well, professional. Then one day while photographing a Chinese Opera performance, and struggling with the horridly low light, a gentlemen whom I still don’t know who he is to this day, decided to lend me his Canon flash and told me to try it out. Despite my hesitation and protests, mostly because I was afraid of looking like an idiot, he showed me how it worked and that experience opened up a whole new door of photography for me. That’s right – photography gear. Which only meant more Googling, more money, and more learning.

Next thing you know, I want to learn so much that I decided to enroll in photography classes at NAIT (Northern Alberta Insitute of Technology). And so my photography adventure began…

2 years of photography schooling, another piece of paper with honours, and a couple photography awards later… I now shoot professionally. But even to this day, I am constantly learning new things and evolving my photographic skills everyday. It’s an endless cycle. I personally don’t think that we as people should ever stop learning or improving ourselves. There is no limit to how much knowledge and talent a person can have and put out.