An End and A Beginning . . .

by Katie

It is my great pleasure to introduce our newest FOL sister, Katie Austin!  Coincidentally enough, she is beginning her journey here at the beginning of a new year and with our focus this month being on "beginnings", it couldn't be more perfect! If you haven't been following her on Flickr or Instagram, you are in for a treat.  Her photography is amazing but even more than that, her storytelling just draws you in. She doesn't just post a  photo, she tells you a story and we thought she would fit in perfectly here at FOL.  So without further ado, I give you Katie!  ~Terri

January is an exciting month, isn't it? So full of energy and big new ideas, with creativity flowing like rivers. I really, really like new beginnings and fresh starts and the whole clean slate feeling of January - - - and it's not because my birthday is in ten days and a wake up and should really be made a national holiday. 

I love my birthday. 

But wait! Who is this nut that has taken over Focusing On Life and is talking about clean slates and new beginnings and her birthday, for crying out loud?

That would be me, Katie (or Kate, if you belong to my husband's side of the family). 

I am:

- - - a runner of thirty years and still going strong, despite my orthopedist telling me to ease up on the mileage and avoid running hills. He does realize that we live smack dab in the middle of the Arkansas Ozark mountains, doesn't he? Shoot, you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a huge hill around here.

- - -  yep, my little family are proud Arkansas Razorbacks and love calling those hogs: Woo! Pig! Soooie!  (now, if we could just have a winning football season!)

- - -  I am a momma to two kids, ages 14 and 20, but they will forever be permanently three years old in my mind's eye. You might say I am in slight denial over them getting older. I am married to a man that still takes my breath away and gives me belly aches from laughing so hard. I love the adventure my life has become since we both said, "I do" twenty-four years ago.

I was first given a camera when I was 12, one of those Kodak Instamactic cameras with the flash bulbs you could buy at the drug store. If I close my eyes hard enough, I can almost smell the burning they'd give off after firing. I must've taken thousands of photos since then, but it wasn't till 2011, right about this time of year, that I Got Serious About Photography. My husband suggested that I start a 365 project, never knowing how much I'd fall for photography. And I fell hard, reading everything I could, including the dreaded (and somewhat terrifying) camera manual that came with my first DSLR, a Nikon D3000. Well, I've practiced and practiced and read and read and upgraded to a Nikon D7100 and read and practiced some more and I still feel like I've only touched the tip of the iceberg. 

There's just. So. Much. Still. That. I. Want/Need to learn. I don't really have a "niche" yet, although I love wildlife, nature and sports photography, devouring my husband's copy of Sport's Illustrated when it comes in the mail.  He's even caught me watching football with him so I can begin to understand the game a bit more. And yes, he likes to tease me a a bit about it. 

So, that's pretty much me in a nutshell. I'm looking forward to 2014, I really am. I plan on taking a step back and not do a 365 project this year, rather I want to dive even deeper into photography and drink in and soak up everything I can about this wonderful gift that we all love so much.

What are some things that you want to dive into this year? I can't wait to hear them!