Here We Go!

Hello and welcome to my new world, sort of. As you can see or know my wonderful wife Jill opened this blog with some commentary some time ago and I'm finally getting to lay down some words for you to digest. You'll have to forgive my style of writing because it is purely stream of conscience and most likely grammatically butchered. Sorry former teachers it's me not you.

For those of you that don't know me, I of course am Erin McManus and I now call myself a Photographer...as of last September anyway. I've always considered myself a photographer just never got paid for it.

I have always been enamored with the notion of catching a moment, a moment in time. I often think of it in terms of one of the closest things to time travel. You can only look back however. I remember being a child and sitting in my Dad's studio with him looking at old photos. I was amazed at how different everyone looked, this was probably when I finally realized that everyone changes, gets old (physically anyway), and at some point dies. I really was struck though when I saw incredible images that were literally frozen in time, how amazing to have snapped the shutter at that very instant. I think what really set the hook in me though was observing my father paint incredible art from Black and White reference photos he shot. I found myself drawn to the photos and how beautiful a world really still could be with out color. Our mind if we let it will see past the shades of grays into that window of an image and let us imagine the moment.

My Dad traded a painting for my first camera, a Nikon F circa 1971-73, older than me. The same camera I saw reporters photographed shooting the Vietnam War. I shot a lot of photos with it, most of which I'm sure were scrapped as I got the contact sheets printed and realized I had no clue about ASA, F-Stop, Metering, etc... But that's the sweetheart that got me started.

My Dad died suddenly two years ago, he was my best friend and I miss talking to him as I did nearly everyday. He was 60 years old, lived a good life though not nearly long enough, and almost realized his Artist dream....No 8-5 and doing what he loved. This obviously weighed heavily on our decision to take this step. I really felt that I didn't want to look back and say "what if". So I owe him a huge debt of gratitude for not only helping me discover photography but to encourage me to go after it long before he left.

I also must say here that I could not be doing this without the support and love of my wife Jill. I think that we make a great team, as I don't do this work all alone. I plan on having a camera in her hands as well soon and think that we will capture some incredible moments together....maybe even for you.

So here we go, I'm having a blast and so far have had many very incredible experiences already. Thank you to those of you that have already hired me and trusted me to freeze those moments for you.

Sincerely,
Erin McManus