About Me #1: I grew up in the Midwest, about an hour outside of Chicago. When I was 10, I received my first camera, a Kodak X-15 Instamatic. Our family camped every weekend and went somewhere different for summer vacations each year. Camping along the way. By the time I was 16, I had been to 36 states. The camera went along, always.

When I turned 16, I got my first summer job working in a tractor parts warehouse. My life can be defined by what I bought with my first two paychecks: a Minolta XG-1 35mm film camera and a plane ticket to Lake Tahoe.