I’ve been taking photographs for more than fifty years. I was certainly taking pictures when I was fifteen, as photographer for my high school newspaper. Since then (and likely before then, if memory serves me well), I have been the person who seems to have a camera in hand (or over shoulder, or in bag) almost wherever he goes.
Like many people, I have been through (and in some cases am still in) stages of sports photos, experimental photos, photos of my children and grandchildren, and “record shots” of the places I’ve visited and the people I’ve met. These days, though, the places I visit have given way to the emotions I feel when I see what is around me, and I tend to meet myself more than other people when I take photographs. More than anything else, photography is a meditative experience, and a process of self-discovery and continual improvement in a challenging craft.
I use Nikon lenses and cameras. My preferred camera is currently a Nikon D3S, for its reliability and range of features. My preferred lens is currently a 105 mm macro. I have more camera bags than I would care to admit, but most of them get used at one time or another. Most of my printing is done on an Epson 3880, on archival paper (usually Hahnemuhle or Epson). I almost always shoot in aperture priority mode. I am no longer surprised to come home after a day’s shooting to find that I have taken more than a few hundred images. Digital processing takes place in Lightroom and Photoshop, now that I have moved close to 100,000 images from Apple Aperture libraries.