Growing up in a photography household, it’s no surprise that Laura Parisi has a great deal of passion and skill when it comes to taking pictures.

“The only photos we had of us as a family was when dad was setting up the studio for a bride to come and he needed us to be guinea pigs to get the lighting right and everything,” Laura says.

Laura is currently the co-vice president of the North Haven Camera Club. The club’s objective is to bring together individuals interested in learning and improving the techniques of digital photography in a friendly environment.

“We want our members to learn and grow,” says Laura.

Laura herself has been learning and growing with photography since a young age. Her father owned Castiglione Photography, and gave her the first camera she owned around sophomore or junior year of high school.

She says she won three or four awards around that time, and was also the photographer of the year for her senior class.

“I shot my first wedding when I was 16 or 18 years old,” she says.

Laura’s passion for photography continued in college, where she started a photography club. Her dad even helped set up a dark room for the club.

Photography has even played a part in Laura’s personal life. Her first husband, who has passed away, gave her a digital camera, which was her first.

She met her second husband at a Wallingford Camera Club meeting, and then saw him again just days later at a photography conference in Massachusetts.

“We’re a mixed marriage,” says Laura, “I shoot with Nikon and he shoots with Canon.”

However, Laura says that it’s not necessarily the camera that makes for a good photo, but more the person behind the lens that makes the difference.

“You’ve got to have the eye for photography, that’s the most important thing,” says Laura.

Some of Laura’s favorite photos are from her trips to Iceland, where she took photos of lava fields with moss growing on top, ice caves, and even got a shot of the Northern Lights with shooting stars in the background.

“Iceland is the most beautiful country you can imagine,” says Laura.

One of the things that Laura is excited about is that Robert Louis Vanelli, a photographer from Florida, will be coming up to give a workshop for the camera club on Tuesday, May 2.

A few weeks ago, the club hosted Mark Bowie, an instructor for the Adirondack Photography Institute whose work has been published internationally in books, magazines, greeting cards, and other forms of media.

“We did a night workshop on the Guilford Green and down by the water,” says Laura.

The club also plans a lot of trips, and has some interesting ones coming up. One of those trips is to Wingmasters in Massachusetts, where the club will have the opportunity to photograph owls, hawks, and other birds.

“They’ll hold the owls and hawks for us to photograph, so that’s exciting,” says Laura.

Giving back to the community is also something the camera club likes to do. Members of the camera club met with The Daytime Gardeners of North Haven in February to teach the gardeners tips about photography in a garden setting.

The club accepts members of any skill level, whether a person takes pictures on a cell phone or a state-of-the-art digital camera. Laura says that there are three levels in the club, and the club promotes people as they get better at the craft.

“It doesn’t bottom out the people that are learning,” says Laura, “It gives them a chance to win ribbons, too.”

Aside from her activities and duties with the North Haven Camera Club, Laura also likes to share her knowledge and experience with other clubs as well.

She is giving a presentation about lighting for photography to the Wallingford Camera Club later this month. She is also giving a presentation on photography composition to The Charter Oak Photographic Society, which she says is one of the biggest and most prestigious camera clubs in the state, on April 24.

Those interested in joining the North Haven Camera Club can visit its website, www.northhavencameraclub.com.