A photograph catches one's eye in myriad ways. For Filipino-born photographer Noemi Enriquez, her interest in photography all started with noticing details in photos in books and magazines. From innocently flipping through pages emanated a thirst to learn how photographs are constructed and produced. How are they lit? What draws attention to them? What makes your eye linger on an image no matter how many times you've seen it before?

Taking a cue from good product reviews, Noemi bought her first camera — a Nikon D-40 — and embarked on a journey into the world of photography in 2005. Six years later, Noemi is still having a blast finding answers to her questions by turning her interest into a full-blown endeavor. Her fledgling hobby is now in full swing, and she's reaping the benefits by doing what she loves — and does — best: capturing moments, spontaneous emotions, and the natural mood and feel of a place with her camera.

For Noemi, finding inspiration to keep the wheels turning comes from the simplest of places: studying other people's work. She also looks to her favorite photographer, American Joe McNally, for his deft use of natural light, eye for composition and brilliant flash effect techniques.

Noemi continues to hone her skills by shooting photos regularly, as well as busying herself critiquing and finding ways to improve photographs — an exercise that helps her develop her own aesthetics. Shooting photographs at sunset and under gray skies just before a storm is now a personal favorite.

As far as good human subjects go, Noemi believes the secret lies in making them look as natural as possible in front of the camera. To her, a good photograph is one that doesn't look too graphically enhanced. Vibrant colors must shine through, and balance in composition must be achieved at all cost. And Noemi longs to work her magic on her dream subjects: unexplored cities, world-renowned locales such as Rome, Paris, and the ruins of Greece… AND supermodels!

However, Noemi concedes that a good photograph is not simply the result of having exotic settings and elaborate designs that serve as the subject's backdrop. Much of the work occurs in the photographer's mind, and the final image is the culmination of the countless decisions that Noemi makes along the way.

To Noemi, a shoot is as much a mental exercise as it is a staged production. The process is as creative as it is technical. After all, Noemi's wish is for her photographs to be remembered best for their good color balance, clarity and crispness of the images.