What seperates me from other photographers/people with cameras.

I guess what sets me apart from other photographers is my passion for photography. I have been into photography for my whole life, but things really changed after being at CCAD and learning what I have learned in my time here. I remember when I first got my Nikon D50, which was a week after I broke my neck. I couldn't do much, so I spent days reading my camera manual and learning all the functions by taking about 4,000 photos of my cats, who I spent my time with, being that I couldn't do much else. I did the same when I traded up for my Nikon D80. I read the Nikon manual, and I read about what settings other photographers used to figure out what I liked the best. I feel that an important part of being a photographer is really knowing your camera/equipment, and it's possibilities and limitations. Another thing that may set me apart from photographers is that I can't not have a camera on me at all times. All the time, whether I'm walking/driving/riding/out and about, I look at everything around me and think of what would make a great photograph. I guess I just look at the everyday and see how it can translate through my camera. I can't go much longer that 4 days without using my camera, whether I shoot something far away and new or if I shoot my cats in my back yard, I just need to shoot. Which I guess brings me to my last point about what may seperate me from other photographers. Ohio. I love Ohio, and I love it's history, and it's back roads and small towns. I especially love Southeastern Ohio, and it's crumbling half empty towns. I spent all of last summer, every Sunday driving to these towns and photographing them. I guess it's to preserve some images of these towns that just seem to get worse and worse everytime I go to them, and with this economy, they are just going more downhill. But I need to be there, with my camera and document these places before they are totally forgotten. So, these things may make me a unique photographer, or they may not, but these are some of the things that do define me as a photographer.