I majored in Fine Art at our local community college and my father bought me my first camera: Pentax K-1000 with a 50mm lens and a 70-210mm zoom. I learned everything I could about how to use the camera and composition before I even took a single class in college.

A few friends and I used to go every weekend to see this cover band at a club near our homes. What better way to test my photography skills than to take some pictures of the band we liked.  I took a roll of pics one night and had them developed the next day. Needless to say, my first roll was a disaster. My composition was good, but my shutter speed and lighting was bad. The pics came out very "creative" as the one member of the band said.  Seems I had a lot to learn. 

If at first you don't succeed... yes I tried once again. Next time they played, I had my lighting all figured out and knew where I had to have my shutter speed set. I took 3 rolls of film that night. When I showed the band my second attempt, they were amazed at how great the pics looked. I somehow managed to "capture" each band members personality on film. I soon after that became the bands "official" photographer.

I did photos for local bands for a few years and built up a very extensive portfolio of work. I photographed local Cleveland bands such as Bronx (my first ever band), Monster Zero, Outta the Blue, Jamie Way, Slamina Y Trap, and Funkamungus. I loved photographing bands and all the guys were wonderful to work with. 

My Fine Art degree didn't go as well as planned. I ended up changing majors and never took any art classes past Drawing and Painting 1 & 2.  I never did get to take photography in college. Later in the Fall of 1991, I had all my photo equipment stolen by my ex-boyfriend, who turned around and sold it to a pawn shop. This devastated me. I had over $1000 worth of equipment, including filters, lenses and flashes.

As luck would have it, the Summer of 1992 I found a gold mine at a flea market. I purchased a Pentax ME, with 50mm and a 70-210mm macro zoom, with a case for only $50! The camera was in excellent condition and I was back in business! 

In the Fall of 1992, I started working for one of the local photographers in our area, Collins Studio West, Inc., as studio help and an apprentice. I was finally somewhere that I wanted to be and was truly happy. The guys I worked with, Jim (the owner) and Dave, were wonderful mentors for me. Dave taught me about studio lighting and Jim encouraged me to pursue my career as a photographer. It was when I was working for them that I realized I wanted my own studio someday. 

While working at Collins, I started doing some photo shoots at local cemeteries. These started out as basic tombstone and architecture pictures. I did my first Gothic photo shoot with a friend of mine at the time in one of the cemeteries. 

As with almost all good things in my life, this apprenticeship came to an end way too soon. Collins Studio was sold in the beginning of 1993, within 6 months of my employ. Sadly, I didn't have the chance of buying the studio because I was so young with no credit or assets to my name.

I took a break from photography shortly after this happened. Real life kicked my ass. 
I didn't pick up a camera again for two years.

It was the Summer of 1995 when I did another photo shoot. My friend Cathie was visiting for a few months from Arizona. She was a dancer that performed at Renaissance Faires. She wanted to build a portfolio, so we took out one day and went to a few parks in the area and I started shooting some shots of her dancing. She very much enjoyed the pics I took of her. I thought that this would get the creative juices flowing in me again, but alas, real life interfered once again and it would be three more years until I would do any photography again. 

I took some pics of my friend Deven  in some of her fetish wear in the backyard of the duplex I was living at in the Summer of 1998.  We did another shoot in one of my favorite cemeteries. That photo shoot inspired and fueled the creative fires inside me once again. 
My muse had been found.
Lucretia was reborn.

In June of 2000, I acquired my vendors license and made Tragic Beauty Productions
official. Having my own studio has been a dream of mine for over 10 years now, and it is time to bring that dream to reality.  I am looking for a decent place to set up my studio so that I can branch out and develop my talent more and more.

 Talent cannot be learned... Talent is inherent, you either have it or you don't.