I'm 36, have been playing with film for the past decade, and stop-animation for the past several. Believe it or not, I learned animation as a method of escaping insanity: living in a city where I didn't speak the language... I grew up in Seattle, found an interest in photography. I later lived in Quebec with a girl I fancied, and not speaking the language, became bored as hell... I started playin with cameras, still images of sorts, experimental, I thought of myself as a new-aged photographer. The next year we went to see "the girls" family in Frejus near Cannes, and went to the Cannes festival, it was amazing! We met some fun people who took us in and showed us around, took us on a yacht, real romantic times. One of them was a film editor and taught me some final cut. Upon returning to Seattle, I stole a copy of Adobe to edit (I didnt' have a Mac for final cut.) and started playing.. my still images turned into stop-animation. This is how I began playing with animation. And now, I've won the film contest on film annex! Woo Hoo!