Charles Ziegler

Some of my most vivid, and fondest memories from my youth are of exploring the great outdoors.  I can remember taking off after school to explore “the bluffs” at Fort Lewis where my family was stationed.  I remember camping every Summer with my dad, especially when we would go to Mount Rainier.  I don’t remember hiking trails as much as I do just exploring what was around us on the mountain.  Walking the river beds, climbing the hills behind our campsite, or snowshoeing Paradise.  Of the memories I have lost as I’ve grown older, those are still clear in my mind.

When I got a bit older, as a teenager, I started to discover photography.  My mom had a Minolta 35mm film camera (before anyone was really using digital cameras), and she would let me borrow it to practice this newfound hobby.  It wasn’t until years later that I would become slightly obsessed with photography, but I still remember those trips out to the local state park and discovering the joy of photography, just as I remember the camping trips with my dad.  I was always drawn to being able to capture a scene in front of me, a moment in time, and preserve that indefinitely.

When I was a young adult, maybe around 22 or 23, I bought my first camera.  It was a very consumer-grade Canon Rebel film camera with a couple of kit lenses.   I took that kit on every road trip I went on and once again discovered the joy of photography that I flirted with as a teenager.  The next camera I purchased was basically the digital version of my film camera, again complete with a standard and telephoto lens kit.  By this time, I had started a family and again would take my camera gear on family trips, camping outings, and social events.  If I’m being honest, I really didn’t know how to properly use my camera gear until I was well into my thirties, but I still loved composing and taking photographs.

Then I started to take this hobby a bit more seriously.  I started reading photography books and practicing the lessons that I read.  I started taking my camera out of the automatic mode and begin using shutter priority, aperture priority, and full manual mode.  I learned how to control my depth of field, create motion blur or freeze movement, and the effects of using ISO to create more “light”, but understand the consequences to the photograph.  I learned tips and tricks on creating better compositions and the all-important effects of light in your image.  The more I learned, the more I fell in love with what I was now recognizing as the art of photography.  I started to create images, rather than just take snapshots.  Although I enjoy many styles of photography, from street to portraiture, cityscapes to architecture, my real passion is landscape photography.  Being able to capture nature in a way that others might not see it, or capture a scene that just takes your breath away and wows you, is one of the coolest things I have discovered in life.

I’ll be honest.  I do photography for myself.  Being outdoors with my camera is most certainly my “happy space”.  However, I also love to share the photos I take with others.  Anytime I capture an image that I’m happy with, it goes up on my social media.   Sharing those images, those moments in time I was able to capture, has become a big part of the joy I find in photography.  This website is a portfolio of that “work”.  I hope you enjoy browsing the photos displayed as much as I enjoyed taking them.