Hey there! I figure if you're reading my blog and my ideas, you're probably at least a little bit curious about who I am and what I'm all about, and this is where you can find out.
I'm a little new to blogging right now. This blog will continue to evolve over time as I add pages, add more of my photos, and change the design around. For now, things will be fairly simple. I can only do so much design work at a time, right?
So who am I? Well, for starters, I'm 26 years old and I'm married to my best friend and love of my life. We live together in Arkansas, and while we don't have kids yet, we'd like to have a family with little ones. I'm not originally from Arkansas. I grew up and went to school in Missouri. I have an engineering degree from UMR (now MS&T) and currently work as an engineer. I've always been more technically minded, loving math and science. I currently work as an engineer, but I would like to someday earn a master's degree or maybe even a Ph.D. in mathematics. I have found more recently though, that my passion is in photography.
I got into photography mainly because of my mom. She started taking photography courses at her local community college, initially dealing just with black and white film, later moving on to digital. Well, seeing her work seemed to wake something up inside of me. You see, I was never all that artistic growing up. I wasn't good at painting, drawing, sculpting, pottery, or anything like that. Neither could I sing or play an instrument. I enjoyed writing some (I'm currently doing that more than I used to), but it still wasn't my favorite thing to do. Then I decided to buy a camera. I bought my camera, a Nikon D60, shortly after I started my job in 2009 after graduation. I've been hooked ever since. I've been learning in growing in the creative aspects of photography ever since. I'm no Ansel Adams or Joe McNally, but I believe, and have been told by others, that I am a good photographer. I am always trying to improve as well, learning new techniques and trying new ideas. I also enjoy the technical aspect of photography, determing what settings I like best for the effect I want to artistically capture, and working with computers and software such as Photoshop to put a further, personal, creative slant on my photos. As I continue to hone my skills and my passion, my dream is to one day start my own, full time photography business if I am also able to get to a place financially that I can do that. I will eventually put up a photo page with some of my favorite photos I've taken, along with a link to my photography website.
The one other thing that would probably be really good for you to know about me is that I am a Christian. I will nearly always write my blog posts from a Christian perspective. Now, the word "Christian" can mean different things to different people, but let me tell you what I believe it means.
Being a Christian, I believe that God created us to have a relationship with him. Because man sinned (commited acts against God), though, and because God cannot eb in fellowship with sin due to his perfect and holy nature, man fell out of relationship with God, the outcome of which is ultimately death. Because man was tainted by this sin, unable to reach God because we are all imperfect, God reached out to man to restore the relationship. Knowing that perfection was the only way, and knowing that man was incapable of perfection, God sent His Son, Jesus, to earth to live the perfect life that man was incapable of and took our punishment of death in our place, all so we could once again have a real relationship with God. The only thing that we would have to do to enter into that relationship, is believe that Jesus died on the cross in our place and that God raised him from the dead three days later to show his power over death, and accept the forgiveness being offered by admitting we are sinners and repenting of that sin to follow God. I believe that heaven and hell are real places. I believe that God does not send anybody to hell. Hell is a place originally created to punish the angels that turned on God and become demons and Satan. Because man sinned though, and because of man's choice to not have a relationship with God, that people send themselves to hell. having chosen all their lives to ignore a relationship with God, God gives them over to what they have sought their whole life seeking, an eternity apart from Him. God does not send us to hell, He rescues us from it. He does it so that we may have a full life in a relationship with Him. I believe that as Christians, after Jesus paid the price for our sins for us, God sent the Holy Spirit to guide us and comfort us, and that we are to be filled with His spirit by being in communion and fellowship with Him everyday, learnign and listening from His holy word, the Bible, and praying to and with Him. One day, when we die, we will brought to be in His presence forever.
This is what I believe in a nutshell, in general terms. In the future I will add a page that speaks more specifically on what I believe and why I believe it. I'll also say that I believe as a Christian, I am to love others, telling them teh good news of God's love for them, but at the same time allowing them to make their own decission, and then respect that decission. I am to care for people and help them when I am able, and sometimes even when I think I am not able. Again, I'll go more in depth into what I believe in the future on a seperate page.
That's basically me though. Or at least as much as I can fit into a short blog post. I may add more here in the future. Until then, have a wonderful day!
