About Phrog Eye Photography
A little something about me...
I grew up in a household where National Geographic publications graced almost every horizontal surface – all the living room tables, the kitchen counter, my mother’s science loft, and all the bathrooms (sorry dad) - so I was fluently steeped in an environment of beautiful photography. In addition, my parents had a great appreciation for modern art and never missed an opportunity to take us to galleries that exposed us to the best of creative composition and themes of the personal imagination.
I think the combination of the two mediums influences the way I feel about the balance and sentiment that comes across from certain photos. (Not all photos, by any means.) I love the way certain, rare images cause us to involuntarily sigh, or smile, or murmur to ourselves.
I also love images that make a question spring to mind: What IS that?...Where was THAT taken?... What kind of flower is THAT?...
I’ve never had any formal training in photography. I’ve read a little here and there, but essentially I know what I like and very often, that seems to touch a cord in others. I’m learning every day, of course.
I first remember picking up a camera on a family vacation to the Turks and Cacaos, when I was about 10-years-old. I didn’t really ask to use the camera, but I took it anyway and was drawn to the garden to photograph the array of exotic flowers outside our cabin. I don’t know if any of those pictures were any good, or where they are now, but the pure rush of looking at life behind a lens has stuck with me ever since.
I have grown up in a small town in Northern Vermont - St. Albans - one hour south of Montreal. Here, in the heart of maple sugaring country, I have grown to appreciate all the beauty that nature has to offer. I have been a greatful witness to Vermont's long winters that melt into "mud season," before finding thier way into brilliant green springs and summers,... and finally to the glory of Vermont's famous autumn color.
I have been lucky enough to travel extensively all over the world from a very young age. It was on one of these trips, when I was thirteen, that I rediscovered my love for photography. With only an inexpensive pocket digital camera, and my own brand of curiosity and creativity, I found my love for macro photography.
As my family continued to travel to "Off-the-beaten-path" destinations like Slovenia, Northern Ireland, South Africa, Ecuador, and the Czech Republic, my sense of wonder and love for photography continued to expand. I never dreamed of doing anything public with my pictures until my friend's mum suggested that I display some framed prints at our local hospital, just to see if they would sell. As it turned out, they did!
But I never felt right just selling my prints. I wanted to really do something bigger than myself with them. In 2008, when I was a freshman in high school, I got interested in the plight of battered women and their poor children. It was then that I decided that I could donate $10 to charity for each of the prints I sold in my exhibitions. To date, I have been able to donate more than $3000 to our local shelter - Laurie's House - through the sales of my photos. When I started PhrogEyePhoto I never dreamed that things would move along at the pace they have: Just recently an anonymous buyer purchased 44 framed prints to serve has the primary artwork in a new public building. (The shelter and I are amazingly grateful.)My photographs are also in homes around the United States, and around the world.
Many of the photographs on the site are taken with a simple point-and-shoot digital camera - a pocket sized Nikon P5100. None of the photographs have been photo-shopped in any way. People are always telling me that I could do this and that with photoshop, but I just couldn't be less interested. I guess I'm a "purest". I use the same photo editing standards prescribed by National Geographic Magazine, which limit any editing to minor color and light adjustments only. I never save an image unless it is in crystal clear focus, so most of my images can be greatly enlarged and maintain striking detail.
For my 17th birthday, my parents chipped in to help me buy some “real” camera gear, so some of my shots, taken after February 2010, might have a more sophisticated pedigree. But I’ve found that the “fancy” camera and lenses just help me extend my range. I’m still taking and liking the same vernacular.
I am currently attending Harvard University. I will, no doubt, keep "shooting life". I hope to find some way to encorporate my photography with my plans to study world health and economics.
Thank you for looking around my website. I love doing this for the pleasure it brings others, and I'm having so much fun now that I live by the motto "Keep your friends close,... and your camera even closer!"
