About me

Gary backpacking I've enjoyed photography since I was in grade school when my parents gave me a 126 Instamatic camera. Do you remember those? My Dad also gave me a Kodak six-twenty when I was about 11 that he had used many years before. Film was expensive, so I shot relatively few pictures. I received a 35mm camera as a gift when I was in high school, and then purchased my first SLR, an Exakta VX1000, when I was in college. The year after college I bought a Pentax Spotmatic, and have had a progression of cameras ever since. Through my high school and college years, up until the early '90s, I shot mostly slides. Then I switched to negatives/prints before going digital.

It wasn't until 2002 that I bought a digital camera, although I had digitized a few negatives before that to manipulate the image. At that time I went almost all digital. I did shoot a few rolls of film each year in my Pentax PZ1p, as I had a nice flash unit, and the quick focus was a big help when taking pictures of the children with Santa at my friend's daycare Christmas party. And there were a few other occasions where I fell back to film - although I always had a CD of the digitized pictures made when the film was processed.

My first digital camera was a Canon S40. It was stolen a year later, and I replaced it with a Canon S50. A few years later I picked up a Canon SD200, which was so easy to slip in a pocket that I carried it everywhere. I'm now looking at the Canon SD870, although I'll wait a bit longer in hopes the price will drop a bit. This year (2007) I purchased my first digital SLR - a Pentax K10D (yes, I like the Pentax cameras, and I do have a few lenses that fit them).

I'm an amateur photographer, certainly not professional. My photography is mostly for my own enjoyment. I've taken pictures for other people, and I often make prints of my pictures for others. And I have, on occasion, been paid for my work, but certainly never enough to cover my equipment or time.

In my non-photography life, I have a B.S. in Physics and Math. I went straight from college into the computer field, and have worked for American Sign & Indicator Corporation, Digital Equipment Corporation, and Washington State Ferries. I have also owned my own businesses and have done consulting and contract work for over 10 years. I enjoy reading, backpacking, cross-country skiing, bicycling and many other activities.

The information I include in this site is my opinion, but I have thought a lot about it. Other people may well have other opinions about what I say. But, I don't think you will go far wrong if you start with what I have said and develop your own methods.

Most of all, enjoy your photography!

Gary

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