Leslie Cruz was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and lived there until the age of 6 when her mother relocated to Cable, Wisconsin to provide a better education for her. She was raised by her mother, Christine Fyle and Effie Fyle, her grandmother.

Leslie attended the elementary schools in Cable and Drummond before progressing to Drummond Jr. and Sr. High Schools. She graduated with Honors from High School. After graduation, she left for the United States Army. She spent 4 years in the U.S. Army; the majority of the time spent on Fort Belvoir, Virginia as a Chaplain Assistant assigned to the U. S. Army Intelligence and Security Command. After her enlistment, she became a government contractor for a short period of time. In 2000 she began pursuing her degree full-time at the Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC). Utilizing her Montgomery G.I. Bill to its fullest extent; she earned two associate degrees: an Associate of Arts in International Studies and an Associate of Science in General Studies. Leslie was honored several times throughout her academic career for making the Deans list, she was a member of Phi Theta Kappa, and she graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2002.

During the time that Leslie attended Northern Virginia Community College she first began to seriously develop her love of photography. She had a few cameras when she was growing up, but it wasn’t until the Early 2000 that she purchased her first Film SLR, a Nikon N80, and took a wonderful class in photography taught at NVCC. After that class ignited the creative fire within her; she took pictures whenever she could. Over time she developed her skills in the techniques of composition, exposure, and flash.

She purchased her first Digital SLR, a Nikon D200 in February of 2007. She then proceeded to purchase a couple additional lenses, a Nikon SB-800 flash and several other accessories. As she continued to take pictures and edit photos her skills grew and she took pictures of family and friends in their daily lives, as well as portraits. She took a hiatus from serious photography for several months after her D200 had an unfortunate accident and her computer crashed.

Soon, however, Leslie was unable to contain her passion for photography and made a purchase of a new Nikon D3000. She is using that camera and a Nikon SB-600 for many of her photos. However, she is also working with a photographer who has a studio and is furthering her lighting, composition, and manual photography skills. In order to further her dreams she started MeKamala Photography. She is in the process of building/developing her professional portfolio.

Leslie has joined Model Mayhem to further her exposure to potential clients and potential collaborators. She would like to gain further experience in the fashion and portrait photography genres. I believe that I have a very straight forward shooting style currently and would like to expand into more artistic photography.

Leslie also is involved in several personal projects and clubs. She is a member of Toastmaster’s International with membership in the local club, Promise Speakers in Alexandria, Virginia. She was elected to the position of Vice President of Membership for the year that begins in July 2011 and runs through July 2012. Leslie is also a member of three book clubs: Alexandria Literary Fiction, Mt. Vernon Unitarian Universalists Book Club, and the Young, the Chic, The Bibliophile Book Club.

If you are interested in contacted me, Leslie, please contact me at [email protected], (703) 593-2221, or through my website at www.leslie-cruz.artistwebsites.com

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