The Photographers:
We, Karen Muska and Randy Smith, are the photographers behind Treasured Images. We have been married since 2004 and have lived in the Bay Area of California since 2006.
We started Treasured Images in 2017 after years of being enthusiast photographers. We continually strive to increase our knowledge and skills through education, networking with other photographers, and of course taking lots of pictures.
Karen -
I have been in the field of education for over 20 years and I am currently an Educational Technology Specialist in a school district in the south Bay. Although Education has been my official profession, I have enjoyed doing photography for a long time. Over the years I have grown from taking casual snapshots to learning much more about the art and the techniques of capturing what I see and envision.
Randy -
I retired from the US Coast Guard and have been a Network Design Engineer since 2000. I have always appreciated good photography from the observer standpoint but over the last few years I have become an avid photographer myself. I'm fortunate enough to be married to a photographer whose passion for the art has rubbed off on me. It was while preparing for a Costa Rican vacation in the summer of 2013 that I decided it was time to take the leap into this wonderful art and start capturing my own "Treasured Images." Since then, I have noticed that I see things differently as I go through each day and I often visualize how a scene could look from framing through an eyepiece to final print.
Our Vision and 'Style'
Our vision is about capturing moments, telling a story, evoking emotion, highlighting the wonders of nature, and having fun. For us, photography is a combination of art, vision, and skill. We strive to be artistic while maintaining honesty in our images.
People often ask us, “What type of photographers are you?” Or, “What type of photography do you do?” Do you do studio and/or outdoor portraits? Fine Art? Landscapes? How about nature and wildlife? Do enjoy taking macro images? What about action shots?
Yes, yes, and yes. We enjoy taking portraits of adults, children of all ages, and pets in both posed and casual or environmental shots. But we also love landscape, cityscape, local and foreign cultural sites and nature work. Some of our favorites include the crashing waves and rock formations along the coast, fall colors in the mountains, stars on moonless nights, pelicans diving for fish, old barns, nighttime bridges and city skylines, Costa Rican monkeys, Puerto Rican Forts, and temples in Thailand.
Karen also enjoys macro photography and discovering the intricate details that are often not apparent to the naked eye, such as the grains of pollen on the anther of a flower or highlighting the natural patterns and symmetry on the shell of a snail or the tentacles of an anemone. Randy really enjoys night photography and he feels that it brings out an added dimension to things we encounter during the daylight hours.
Maybe someday one or both of us will focus on a single genre or develop a signature style … but, we kind of hope not. We are having too much fun experiencing life and trying to see things in new ways. Why limit ourselves or try to fit into a neat category? We would rather keep that sense of wonder and experimentation and be open to new adventures.