Gloria grew up in the San Francisco Bay area surrounded by nature, ocean and hills; Monterey Bay, Muir Woods, the Sacramento Delta, the grassy hills of the East Bay and not too far away the Sierra Nevada mountains, Yosemite and Sequoia. She loved art and photography as a young girl and took art classes in school as well as taking pictures with a Brownie camera and later a Polaroid. She had aspirations of pursuing a career in some art form, perhaps photography but marriage and children took the place of those dreams as well as a busy career in procurement at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Photography is something that had always been in the back of her mind but between family obligations and the expense of purchasing the proper equipment it simply seemed out of reach.
During those "family" years she hiked, backpacked, rode her bicycle from San Ramon, California to Reno, Nevada, not once but twice and raced sailboats with her husband. She documented these adventures with a camera but when it came to equipment all she had was a small point & shoot camera. In 1995 she sailed to the South Pacific on their 40 foot sailboat and explored islands and coral atolls, hiked volcanic valleys on the island of Nuku Hiva, documenting their voyage with photos for her scrapbook. When friends and family saw her photos they always asked if they could have copies and commented on how beautiful the pictures were. It was clear that her artistic vision showed even in these snapshots.
Retiring to Arizona in 2005 gave her the opportunity for travel around this amazing state with its National Parks and Monuments, Native American reservations, majestic mountains, historic towns such as Bisbee and Jerome and incredible desert geology such as Sedona and Canyon de Chelly. It was on a trip to Canyon de Chelly that her "point & shoot" camera broke and she also complained that she just couldn't get the proper picture of the canyon the way her eyes saw it. Following this trip she received a Canon G-12 as a gift and within six months realized that she needed an SLR with interchangeable lenses. A Canon EOS-7D was the next step and soon she was reading everything she could on digital photography as well as watching Karl Taylor videos on photographic technique. The results were amazing. Now equipped with a capable DSLR camera and lenses she could create images that reflected what her eyes saw, the beauty of a sunset or the water in a rushing stream. Her latest camera, a Canon EOS-5D Mark III enables you experience the moment as she sees it with incredible detail.
Having personally experienced her genesis and growth as a photographer I will tell you that she works hard to capture every image as a reflection of what her mind sees as well as the feeling it invokes at the moment the shutter opens and closes. Enjoy! - Raymond Fraze
During those "family" years she hiked, backpacked, rode her bicycle from San Ramon, California to Reno, Nevada, not once but twice and raced sailboats with her husband. She documented these adventures with a camera but when it came to equipment all she had was a small point & shoot camera. In 1995 she sailed to the South Pacific on their 40 foot sailboat and explored islands and coral atolls, hiked volcanic valleys on the island of Nuku Hiva, documenting their voyage with photos for her scrapbook. When friends and family saw her photos they always asked if they could have copies and commented on how beautiful the pictures were. It was clear that her artistic vision showed even in these snapshots.
Retiring to Arizona in 2005 gave her the opportunity for travel around this amazing state with its National Parks and Monuments, Native American reservations, majestic mountains, historic towns such as Bisbee and Jerome and incredible desert geology such as Sedona and Canyon de Chelly. It was on a trip to Canyon de Chelly that her "point & shoot" camera broke and she also complained that she just couldn't get the proper picture of the canyon the way her eyes saw it. Following this trip she received a Canon G-12 as a gift and within six months realized that she needed an SLR with interchangeable lenses. A Canon EOS-7D was the next step and soon she was reading everything she could on digital photography as well as watching Karl Taylor videos on photographic technique. The results were amazing. Now equipped with a capable DSLR camera and lenses she could create images that reflected what her eyes saw, the beauty of a sunset or the water in a rushing stream. Her latest camera, a Canon EOS-5D Mark III enables you experience the moment as she sees it with incredible detail.
Having personally experienced her genesis and growth as a photographer I will tell you that she works hard to capture every image as a reflection of what her mind sees as well as the feeling it invokes at the moment the shutter opens and closes. Enjoy! - Raymond Fraze
© Gloria Fraze Photography