I'm a Jill of all Trades. Life has given me so many wonderful opportunities.
I spent my first developmental years in Brazil immersed in the culture and language. It has given me an amazing base for other areas. I love languages and love to learn about people and their cultures.
My parents are both well educated and that has instilled an unquenchable desire to learn. After high school (Madison, Wisconsin and Winnipeg, Manitoba) I went to Trinity Western University where I graduated with a Bachelor or Arts degree with an emphasis in Urban and Rural Planning. I married in 1983, raised my children and returned to university to become a certified teacher to children Grade 4 through 7. Although I don't teach full time anymore, I substitute teach when possible, happily sharing my images and stories of travel whenever possible. Hopefully instilling in these children my same love for learning. I love tutoring math in an attempt to make this daunting subject a little less scary.
I've always loved anything to do with water and even started with my official first job as a lifeguard in Madison, so in 2010 I took up SCUBA diving here in the cold waters of the Pacific NorthWest. Stunned by what I saw, I found a housing for my Canon A610 and started taking photos. This amazing world had to be shared! Encouraged by friends, I began to take my underwater photography more seriously and purchased a Sony Nex5N and an Aquatica housing. This was a huge learning curve, but so rewarding. My love for the extremely tiny pushed my into the direction of a full DSLR that I could fit with a macro lens. I now shoot with a Nikon D7100 and either a Nikkor 105mm macro, a Tokina 10-17 fisheye, or a Sigma 17-70 zoom lens. Sometime I put a wet diopter so that I can shoot the super macro.
Underwater photography led to practicing photography above water. If I was going to improve underwater, I had to learn above water. I am a member of the Abbotsford Photo Arts Club where our images are judged in monthly exhibitions. This has caused me to grow incredibly.
In the Fall of 2015, I was asked to take over as editor/publisher of the Pacific NorthWest Diver Magazine, where I had been featured as a budding photographer a couple of years earlier. The January 2015 edition saw a relaunch with the help of a great team. I introduced a new look and some new sections. I have continued to make changes to the beautiful magazine so the the focus is not on cluttered sidelines, but clean white spaces that showcase the artists. Please follow the links to view the free online magazine.
I have begun to populate my Teachers Pay Teachers store with maps. My goal is to make easy to view maps for students with an artistic flare – like maps of old. I talk about these publications in my blog: Moo Moo Moo. If there is a map that you need, please contact me with the details and I'll do my best to make it happen.
I spent my first developmental years in Brazil immersed in the culture and language. It has given me an amazing base for other areas. I love languages and love to learn about people and their cultures.
My parents are both well educated and that has instilled an unquenchable desire to learn. After high school (Madison, Wisconsin and Winnipeg, Manitoba) I went to Trinity Western University where I graduated with a Bachelor or Arts degree with an emphasis in Urban and Rural Planning. I married in 1983, raised my children and returned to university to become a certified teacher to children Grade 4 through 7. Although I don't teach full time anymore, I substitute teach when possible, happily sharing my images and stories of travel whenever possible. Hopefully instilling in these children my same love for learning. I love tutoring math in an attempt to make this daunting subject a little less scary.
I've always loved anything to do with water and even started with my official first job as a lifeguard in Madison, so in 2010 I took up SCUBA diving here in the cold waters of the Pacific NorthWest. Stunned by what I saw, I found a housing for my Canon A610 and started taking photos. This amazing world had to be shared! Encouraged by friends, I began to take my underwater photography more seriously and purchased a Sony Nex5N and an Aquatica housing. This was a huge learning curve, but so rewarding. My love for the extremely tiny pushed my into the direction of a full DSLR that I could fit with a macro lens. I now shoot with a Nikon D7100 and either a Nikkor 105mm macro, a Tokina 10-17 fisheye, or a Sigma 17-70 zoom lens. Sometime I put a wet diopter so that I can shoot the super macro.
Underwater photography led to practicing photography above water. If I was going to improve underwater, I had to learn above water. I am a member of the Abbotsford Photo Arts Club where our images are judged in monthly exhibitions. This has caused me to grow incredibly.
In the Fall of 2015, I was asked to take over as editor/publisher of the Pacific NorthWest Diver Magazine, where I had been featured as a budding photographer a couple of years earlier. The January 2015 edition saw a relaunch with the help of a great team. I introduced a new look and some new sections. I have continued to make changes to the beautiful magazine so the the focus is not on cluttered sidelines, but clean white spaces that showcase the artists. Please follow the links to view the free online magazine.
I have begun to populate my Teachers Pay Teachers store with maps. My goal is to make easy to view maps for students with an artistic flare – like maps of old. I talk about these publications in my blog: Moo Moo Moo. If there is a map that you need, please contact me with the details and I'll do my best to make it happen.