Welcome to Sharon Furner Photography

                                            
At age nine my Aunt Lois gave me a Brownie Camera. I loved to hold that small square box in my hands, snap the shutter and take a photo. Despite my best intentions, they were mostly of my shoes or the sky, not the rugged, beautiful area of Sun Valley, Idaho where we were visiting. I do recall a photo of a trout being fried over an open camp stove. Not sure I was even the one who took it! In my mind's eye I can still see that tiny picture with the zigzag white border.

Through out the years there was always a camera near at hand, simple, easy to use. Uncomplicated.

For me the treasure was AFTER the film was processed and I held a MEMORY in my hand. Memories of camping; hiking around Silver Lake in Brighton, Utah; chasing Easter Eggs at the state capitol; attending girls' camp; elementary school friends and the occasional snow angel in the deep snows of  Utah winters.

My FATHER always had a camera, a very good camera. He took great pride in it. His preferences were slides and black/white prints. But he didn't teach me to use his camera, in fact, I wasn't allowed to touch it.  I had to wait until college before I got a nicer camera. Over the years, Olympus, Sony and Canon came and went. My philosophy was stubborn,  the camera was intended to capture the moment to retain it. I wasn't to interested in learning all the mechanics of the camera...what I called THE MATH.

My SISTER is the professional photographer in our family. Her forte is wild life. She creates magic with her camera and has super skills in editing and printing. Her pieces have won numerous awards. She has worked hard to learn her skills. She is my mentor and muse. She can capture the eyelash on a giraffe...I capture the giraffe's feet!

Two years ago, and tens of thousands of photos later, I met my sister at the zoo to photograph the animals. It quickly became obvious, I was leagues away from her skills and her blessed photographer's eye. I listened and learned a lot that pivotal day. She even let me use her precious camera. I was HOOKED.  This was more than just preserving a memory, this was a SKILL to learn to make it the BEST MEMORY possible!

We went to Pictureline in Utah, and there my sister suggested  I might like the Canon 7D. Generously she  gave me some of her lenses to go with my spanking new camera that I didn't have a clue how to operate. But since that day at the zoo, I have not looked back.

I started this  blog, separate from my regular blog for the simple reason that I enrolled in a photography course, Find Your Eye: Starting the Journey. http://www.kateyeview.com/

In this course we will join two passions of mine, WRITING and PHOTOGRAPHY. Indeed, amateur. But nevertheless full of good intentions, dreams and aspiration. If I make myself  go PUBLIC I will try harder.  I will learn the Math!!

This is a simple blog. My desire is to share photographs and some written words.  To start I will post my "homework" from Kat's course Find Your Eye. But along the way you will see wonderful photographs of other cultures, art, people, nature: anything that I find beautiful and inspiring. This is a wonderful way for chronicling my life journey. And hopefully you will find inspiration here and there along the way.

As this blog develops,  you will find links to classes, inspirational photography and writing.

Well it is time to close this little introduction. I have homework to do for Kat's class which I will post tomorrow.