The yankee who moved to the south.

A little about who I am.  Originally I was born and raised in the northern suburbs of Philadelphia.  I certainly enjoyed and miss the winters and water skiing on the Delaware River.  It was a great place to grow up and some of my life long friends still live in the area. 

During the process of looking for a college to attend I had no limitations of distance.  I knew I wanted to attend an art college and not just major in art at an university.  I could draw and based on other art classes that I had taken in school I knew I had some skills and/or talent.  At this point I had not taken one photography class yet.  I was given my first SLR at the end of high school simply to take pictures of my art work so that I had slides to submit so that I could fill out college applications.  It is funny to think back to that birthday.  My mother had to show me how to load film in the camera.  I never thought that I would be at this point so many years later. 

I looked at Philadelphia colleges but that was just too close for me.  I knew if I was going to get out of PA this was the time.  With the help of my Mom we found the Atlanta College of Art.  At this point I thought that I was going to be a graphic designer but that was going to change quickly.  At the end of the first semister I changed my major to photography.  With a graphics degree you had to take at least one photography course.  Once I took my first photography class I was hooked.  Now many years later I see that it was a good move.

When I was in school there was no Photoshop classes, Auto Focus cameras were a "NO, NO", we thought it was great to be able to have an aperture priority mode on your camera and you printed in the "darkroom".  Times have certainly changed.  Now my camera of choice is my DSLR Olympus E-300. 

When I first came to school I did not know if I would like the south or if I would be able to make the adjustments to living here.  At this point in my life I enjoy living in the south, yet I still miss snow.  I have been married for 10 years and I have two beautiful children, my favorite models.  

I hope you enjoyed visiting my site and will come back again to see new information and images.

Sincerely,

Lisa

Lisa Schwendemann Smith