Well folks, I started doing digital photography as a hobby back in 2007. Before that, I had tried using a 35mm film SLR camera since I have always been intrigued by photography. Nevertheless, at the time, I was a student and struggling financially, so a hobby wasn't much of a priority nor a necessity.

Not even in my wildest dreams did I ever see myself being a photographer. The first time I captured a great image using the manual mode in my camera, I was ecstatic and felt a great deal of personal satisfaction.

I'll be honest, it was very frustrating at first. I would be tempted to just switch to automatic mode and let the camera do all the work. I knew that I wouldn't learn much that way, so I abstained from doing so. I'm so glad I did.

It seems as if it were yesterday when I bought my first digital SLR camera. It's been almost 5 years and it's so addictive that I haven't been able to put the camera down.

It's been a beautiful journey that I hope never ends. I'm looking forward to more knowledge, workshops, being both a student and a teacher by sharing what I know with other aspiring photographers., and keep on practicing my love of "painting with light".

As the great Roberto Valenzuela always says at his photography workshops: "Practice doesn't make perfect - perfect practice makes perfect."