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Submitted by mimi 11/07/10 1:12 AM GMT
I present to you our next artist to be spotlighted. She came first as a farmgirl and later returned as danika. She is known to many of us as Sherree.
Please stop by her varied gallery and leave a word or three.
Here is Sheree's bio:
‘Wow’ was the first word that came to mind when I received Mimi’s message that I had been selected “Artist Of The Month”. Then I was smiling ear to ear with some tears of joy in between. I’m deeply honored & would like to give my heartfelt thanks to all that nominated me. I’m still in shock. Wow.
My full name is Sherree Koch (pronounced cook). Maiden name Aasum (pronounced awesome) … thought I’d throw that in there. My husband, John, and I have been married for 26 years. No children, but we have 10 Labrador Retrievers that are part of our extended family and they are the next best thing to having kids. I have lived all my life in Southeastern Minnesota (also known as Bluff Country) except for 4 years while I was attending college in LaCrosse, WI. I then moved to the Rochester, MN area and worked for 21 years in the medical field as a Medical Laboratory Technician. I also was certified as a Limited X-ray Technician. I did the x-ray film developing the old way for many years until the equipment was replaced with a more high-tech version. January 2001 my husband and I purchased my grandparents 130 acre farm located near my hometown of Caledonia, MN. We quit our jobs in April 2001 and retired to the farm by late summer of the same year. With no work plans, traveling became our focus and we did that for a couple of years. Utah and Arizona were my favorite places to visit. Then reality set in and it was time to go back to work. I worked for a dog breeder for a year and fell in love with the Labrador Retriever breed. Besides a few part-time jobs I have worked out of the home for the past 8 years raising, breeding, and training this amazing dog. My four-legged friends keep me on my toes and out of trouble. Some of my hobbies / interests besides photography are hiking in my woods, scuba diving, fishing, restoring antique furniture, and collecting wildlife / Labrador Retriever prints / paintings. My favorite artist’s are local … one goes by the name of Michael Sieve and the other is Timothy Craig.
I ran across Caedes.net by accident in February 2006. If my memory is correct I made a typo in my search and noticed Caedes Desktop Wallpaper near the top of the page. At that point I never considered searching for wallpaper’s for my PC and thought Caedes was worth checking out. I was impressed by what I saw and within days I created a user name (I went by farmgirl_pml at that time) and posted my first image which I believe was one of a hot air balloon. By fall 2006 I was developing my own website for the dogs. I first tried 2 separate free websites and then decided to create my own .com website. It was a smart move on my part. Creating a website was an enlightening (sometimes frustrating) experience as I didn’t have a clue what I was doing at the time. I left Caedes as my time was extremely limited and most of my devotion was to my own website. Fast forward to October 2007 … I found my way back to Caedes under my current user name. I missed all the connections I had made here & I knew there was so much more to learn in regards to photography, fractals, editing, etc. So here I am … again.
Photography has been a big part of my life for as long as I can remember. At the young age of 5, I was always asking my dad, “Let’s make some pictures with your camera”. He held the camera while I pushed the ‘magic button’ (shutter button). For my 10th birthday I received my first camera along with a box of some old family sepia / b & w photographs … a gift from my grandmother. My first camera went with me everywhere and my love for B & W photography began. I recall at one time my camera being confiscated by my 5th grade teacher for sneaking snaps of my classmates while class was in session. I also worked in the Media Resource Center during high school plus did camera work for the school newspaper. In recent years I have been a judge for the photography and art entries at the local county fair. After using numerous 35mm camera’s over the years, I finally purchased my first digital in 2004 … a Kodak DX6340. The following year I added a Kodak P850 with a fixed teleconverter lens and later on a Canon PowerShot S3 IS. February 2008 I took the plunge and purchased my first DSLR … a Nikon D300 with the Nikkor 18-200 mm VR lens. Other lens : two Nikkor 70-300 mm (one with VR and one without); AF Nikkor 28-80 mm (an old lens, but I love it … it’s so fast and lightweight); and a Sigma DG 150-500 mm APO HSM with OS. I also own two 35 mm Sealife Underwater camera’s with protective case, filters, and strobe lights. One of my favorite subjects is birds in flight and it’s an area of photography I strive to improve on … plus I love the challenge. I mainly use Paint Shop Pro 2X as my editing software, but also have PhotoFiltre.
I also do fractals. When I first became a member of Caedes I was totally fascinated by this genre of artwork and wanted to learn how they were created. I would like to take this time to say thanks to all fractalist’s that helped me learn the process of creating beautiful fractal art. I didn’t know much about editing images when I became a member and started posting here, so I’d like to give thanks to my fellow Caedesians … too many to mention, but I have a feeling you know who you are. I appreciate all of your help, support, suggestions, and critiques. Everyone in one way or another has helped me grow as a photographer and fractal artist. It’s a joy viewing everyone’s work and I’m amazed by the creative group we have here. What makes this place extra special is that we all are an inspiration to one another. I’d also like to give a big thanks to *caedes (Geri) and all the mod's. Your hard work and dedication is truly appreciated and I can’t think of a better place to spend my free time … here at Caedes.
I was asked what my favorite image is. I’d have to go with “Foggy Trilogy”. I like the challenge of shooting in dense fog plus envisioned this particular scene in B & W before I actually took the shot … it also reflected the mood I was feeling at the time. Once again, a big thanks to all of my fellow Caedesian friends. I’m very honored and excited to be AOTM. WOW!
Love and hugs to you all,
Sherree
