Rusty "Sidewinder" Sessions's Page

I am a nature lover from as far back as I can remember. Born Oct. 22nd 1981 to a mother that gave me and my two month old sister up to my sisters great grandmother I have had to find motherly rolls in both my sisters Great Grandmother as well as in Mother Nature.

Out of high school I started taking photos of just about everything and fell in love with photography. I moved to Salt Lake City from Bountiful a year later and lived in the Sugar House area. I used to take my photos to a local coffee shop in Sugar House and work on them with my laptop while enjoying a nice Chi tea and had many people come in that would see my work and ask if they could purchase some. In an "artsi-farsti" place like Sugar House I had many many regulars come in and would tell people about my work after they left the coffee house so I started bringing printed, matted and sleeved 8x10's of the more popular shots with me just to have ready if people asked. Eventually I was selling framed work on consignment out of the shop on the walls and sold about twenty or more 8x10's for fifteen to thirty dollars each and made a very nice living out of doing what I loved.

Some of my best work and favorite shots are close up or macro photography of of course, wildlife and nature.

I did one show of my work out of the coffee shop and would like to do more again, it was a fun experience. I also worked as a Herpetologist and Aquarist for living planet aquarium before it went public. Working with Living Planet Aquarium I had many opportunities to take care of, own and shoot some great animals. On some collection and/or scientific study trips I was able to see some wildlife up close that I would normally not get a chance to see and took my camera everywhere and further expanded my portfolio as I traveled all over teaching elementaries about wildlife, conservation and did a rainforest wildlife program for assemblies. Good times.

I would take all my printing to Inkleys in Bountiful where I would have April Leavitt who worked in the lab there do almost all the printing I needed done. Eventually we saw each other so much and were both interested in each other that we started dating. Our first date we went out shooting in Little and Big Cottonwood canyons. Her father, Clair Levitt, was a regular judge of the photography exhibit at the Davis County Fair. Also the rest of her family also being in photography it all just clicked. We had a photography themed wedding on February 17th, 2005 and have been shooting together ever since.

April got promoted to a district position with Inkleys and we now have two kids so my photography has slowed as I have been the one that stays home and watches the kids and April is working. We moved out to Ogden where it is a bit harder to sell my work as compared to living in Salt Lake and the kids take a lot o my time but they are getting older and I am getting out shooting more lately so I am excited for making a living again with my photography.

As for the club I am glad it is till up and going and there is a lot of interest in it still. I joined up day one of the club way back in the day. And now that I am back into being able to do more with the club will be trying to plan some outings and running my fifteen seater Ford E-350 v10 for plenty of room for anyone that would like to come along.

Well that is me. Glad to be here :)