Charissa

My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited

Canada | Friday, July 5, 2013 | flickr photos

My name is Charissa Vandergrift and I would love to travel, experience and contribute to the National Geographic Travel Photography Scholarship of 2013. I need to be honest, I am not a professional photographer nor have I spent a lot of my time aspiring to be a professional photographer. But don’t stop reading! Not yet.

My story is simple. I am a 24 year old from a small town in Alberta. I just finished my first year of teaching as a high school teacher. In arriving home a week ago, I immediately jumped into taking pictures for a cousin’s wedding. With a fun loving bridal party, a hot summer day, an open prairie field and the vast blue skies, I gained a whole new love of photography. I also discovered a new appreciation for a good camera, Canon D60 with a 24 mm lens with 1.4 aperture. It was amazing.

Am I romanticizing photography? Am I personifying the camera as a counselor that has freed me from the bonds of normal eyesight? Perhaps; yet this is why I would be honored to be a part of this trip to Greenland. What I lack in experience, I make up for in passion and an eagerness to learn.