Many of you may have met Tonia Benjamin at one of our recent meetings. Tonia joined SSCC in December and her enthusiasm about photography and the club shows no limits. Tonia recalls one of her family’s favorite pastimes has been looking through her grandmother’s photo albums reliving childhood memories of birthday parties, holiday gatherings and the candid shots capturing family members acting silly.  Those photo albums document the family as it grew. From toothless children on, the rule remains, the family photo came first and play time later. No photos would be taken in dirty dresses.

Until recently, Tonia used a point and shoot camera and rarely printed any of her pictures. In 2015, she decided to take her photography to another level and bought a Nikon D7200. She was so intimidated by the new camera, she let it sit on the table for a week before even taking it out of the box. Recognizing she needed to learn more about her new camera and photography, she joined American Society of Media Photographers and enrolled in online classes at New York Institute of Photography.

Tonia’s passion in photography makes her want to learn everything she can. Currently she has been working on composition and finding interesting things to photograph on her commute to work. She would love to travel and incorporate photography into her travels. She is not sure where photography will lead her, but she realizes that her grandchildren will give her plenty of opportunities to capture those special moments. Like her grandmother, she plans to create photo books filled with memories and smiles.

Tonia learned about SSCC through Meetup.com and now looks forward to the photographic journey she has begun. Please stop and welcome Tonia to our family of photographers at the next SSCC meeting.