About

My name is Robin, I turned 50 this year. I’m a wife, mother and person with mobility related disabilities who lives in North Central Pennsylvania.

I was born and raised within 15 miles of the area where I now reside with my husband of more than a quarter century and my adult son. I share my home with two cats, Sylvester and Oreo Cookie and am constantly accompanied by my canine companion Kodiak, a Siberian Husky I’ve ‘owner trained’ as my Assistance Dog.

I first became interested in photography when I was in Elementary school, having sold greeting cards for the “Sales Leadership” organization, I chose as my ‘prize’ a camera. My parents bought me a roll of film and I set out for a walk, as it was Autumn, my favorite time of year, I took pictures of the beautiful trees that lined the streets of my neighborhood.

Excitedly I waited for the film to be developed, only to discover the film was ‘black and white’. Though I hadn’t captured the beautiful colors of Autumn, the trees were beautiful. Thus began a love of photographing nature that continues today.

I first became disabled in 1994, at relatively the same time I lost my father to Cancer. Shortly thereafter, my mobility deteriorated, making it difficult for me to walk significant distances. Over the years that have followed and many different diagnosis I’ve increasingly relied on the use of a scooter or power chair to travel any distance more than a few dozen feet.

My disability created chronic pain that’s kept me from working on pencil or pastel portraits, something I had previously won awards for. I began to search for a way I could use my creativity in an artistic way and returned to photography.

Not having any professional training in photography, armed only with a discriminating eye for composition and a FujiFilm FinePix S700 digital camera with 10x digital zoom, my power chair and Kodiak by my side, I began to venture out in my community in search of the beauty, colors and scenery often overlooked.

Inspired by Kodiak, I began to watch the way he communed with the world around him, closing his eyes and lifting his face to the warmth of the sun, stopping to sniff the air and enjoy the sounds and smells in abundance around him. My appreciation for nature and understanding that my ability to enjoy it in the future is limited and unsure drive me to photograph that which inspires me, a lasting memory when experiencing is no longer an option.

My hope is that others will see the things around them that they tend to overlook or take for granted in a way they hadn’t before.

Please feel free to comment on the photographs shared here.

Update: In October, 2011 I upgraded my camera to a Canon Powershot SX40 HS with a 24mm-840mm wide angle zoom lens. All photographs since that time have been shot with this camera.