Although I took my first photographs with a Kodak Brownie (a very late model brown plastic job with a red window on the back to see what frame you were on), I really got into photography in the mid-90s.  My “day job” took me the length and breadth of Europe, and my trusty Pentax K-1000 (the Dodge Dart of cameras) taught me the importance of choosing the right f-stop and shutter speed.  I learned the hard way, but I’m glad I did.  My motto back then was “film is cheap [compared to coming back to this spot].”

I soon graduated to a Canon Elan 7 film camera but I kept in touch with my low-fi roots by using a Yashica Mat (120) twin-lens reflex camera -- almost as old-skool as it gets.  The Yashica was finicky but it taught me to slow down.  The Canon was my first exposure (no pun intended) to fast-moving automatic exposure and focus, which meant I could burn through more film than ever!

I was lucky enough to get one of the first Canon Digital Rebels, and my foray into the land of digital began -- a whopping 6.3MP!  The Rebel was a breakthrough for me and amateur photographers everywhere -- instant gratification and the ability to shoot an almost unlimited number of frames.

Not long after I got the Rebel, I was surfing around on the Web and discovered MicroStock Photography.  While large commercial firms like Getty and Corbis long had the market for Stock photography sewed up, MicroStock allowed independent (i.e. amateur) photographers to compete with the big boys, albeit for small money.  I ended up contributing images to six different stock houses (Lucky Oliver is now defunct) and I made a little money to keep feeding my photography habit.

I now use a Canon 5D with 16-35mm, 24-70mm, 50mm, and 70-200mm lenses.  I’m a huge admirer of Strobist and Chase Jarvis.  And I occasionally use a Holga my sister gave me for my last birthday!