Have you ever wanted to relive your child­hood, when you played in the snow all day and retreated to the warmth for a glass of hot choco­late? My brother and sis­ter relived my child­hood for me.

We’re from Ohio, so excuse my brother’s Ohio State hat, and over win­ter break we received about a foot of snow, which was opti­mal for win­ter fun.

The kids made snow angels, went sled­ding, built a snow fort and tried to build a snow­man. They also tried to start a snow­ball fight with me while I was cap­tur­ing their good times. So the next time you want to play in the snow, just act like a kid and have fun.

Now, on to the sub­ject of pho­tog­ra­phy. Have you ever had a hobby that you wanted to make a career? I sure did, and it was photography.

Back in high school, I said I wanted to be a pho­tog­ra­pher because I took good pho­tos with my point and shoot cam­era. So I saved up money to buy what is now my equip­ment, my Nikon D80. I know what you’re think­ing: She can’t be a pho­tog­ra­pher, she just had a point and shoot; that’s not the case.

All through­out high school I took pho­tog­ra­phy courses, both film & dig­i­tal, and let me tell you, I sucked at the begin­ning. You only learn from prac­tice, and once I bought the D80, I learned all the man­ual set­tings, pho­tog­ra­phy lingo and every­thing you needed to know to cap­ture the per­fect image.

Then senior year of high school I took AP pho­tog­ra­phy and got col­lege credit. Carrying into col­lege, I still took lots of pho­tos, but focused more on con­certs (“shows” as I like to call them), which incor­po­rates my two pas­sions: pho­tog­ra­phy and music. I now focus on show pho­tog­ra­phy along with por­traits. My love for pho­tog­ra­phy helped me get my job at The Torch and other paid photo shoots with artists. I couldn’t imag­ine my life with­out photography.