When I was sixteen my dad gave me a camera that had been discarded by someone in his company. It was on the verge of falling apart and before too long I’d had to repair it in true farm-girl fashion; using toothpicks and duck tape!
I photographed everything with that camera. I took it on our family vacations, photographed my brothers and anyone who would let me take their picture (or who I could persuade to let me), and read everything about photography that I could get my hands on.
With pictures taken by that sad little duck taped camera I won a local photography competition and had the first thought of pursuing photography as a career.
That was a long time ago, and I assure you that my gear now is much higher quality and completely free of duck tape; but the excitement I have for creating beautiful images and documenting once-in-a-lifetime moments is no different!