Live, Love, and the Pursuit of… Photography!
I have enjoyed photography my entire life! At just five years old, I would have photo shoots of my Barbie dolls all lined up in a row. Even throughout childhood, I would take as many photos with my film camera as I could. I would then bring the rolls of film up to the local pharmacy in our small town to get them developed. Of course, at that time you had no idea if the photos would turnout or not. It was like opening a surprise each time you received the photos that had been developed. I still have shoeboxes full of photos from childhood.
It was not until High School until I finally realized how much I truly enjoyed the art. I had my first photography class and one of the assignments was to take specific photos and develop them in the dark room. It was, and is, fascinated how you can literally capture life through the eye of a lens. It feels almost magical having the ability to take a photos and develop the film using just a machine, a piece of paper and a few chemicals while preserve that moment for a lifetime. Seriously, how amazing is that!
After high school, I attended college and received my associate’s degree in Advertising, Communication and Design. During my experience there, I was fortunate enough to learn even more about the art through another photography class. It taught me about the rule of thirds, exposure, aperture and shutter speed among many other things. It was a great opportunity to expand my knowledge on the art. I even had the opportunity to take a Photoshop class that taught me all about the editing aspect.
One of my favorite in assignments the photography class was a character photo, where another student had to capture your character while doing something that you loved and of course, I choose photography. I posted all of the photos I had taken throughout the class, pinned them to a backdrop behind me and held a camera up to my face.
Since then, I have been even more interested in the art. I am fortunate to live in a state that has very different seasons throughout the year which allows for very different photos, of course. I love capturing the fresh fallen snow on the trees in the winter, the water puddles from the spring rain, the fresh green trees in the summer and the bright fall colors. In Minnesota, we have many places that allow for beautiful landscape photos but a few of my favorite that I have taken were at places like Gooseberry Falls, Duluth (shown on this page) and Minneapolis.
When I travel I love to take a lot of photos as well! My husband and I just returned from our honeymoon in Monterey, California where we had the opportunity to drive down the west coast from San Francisco to Monterey. It was hard to capture the breathtaking views but we sure took some beautiful photos! We also had the chance to visit Point Lobos State Reserve on a gorgeous 85-degree day in October. We hiked for about four hours and were amazed at how beautiful it was the turquoise ocean and surrounding forest. The scenery was gorgeous!
When we returned from our trip, I realized how much I truly enjoy photography and want to share my photos with others. I created a photography Instagram, Katie Dooley Photography, to share a few photos of what I have captured throughout the years. I will continue to share my work through this website and also through social media.
Do you enjoy photography? What type of photography is your favorite to see? I would love hear about it or see some of your work. Use the tag #lifeloveandthepursuits to share them with me, I cannot wait to see!
xoxo – Katie
“Capturing the beauty of life through the eye of a lens.” – Katie Dooley
LadiMerk 