In my early twenties I bought my first “real” camera and used it to shoot pictures of my new car. I was not wealthy by any means and could not afford to spend a bunch of money on film and processing.  As I hung out at photo stores I saw how inexpensive black and white film and processing was and set out to learn more. I became a black and white enthusiast and did a good bit of street and urban photography. I learned to process it myself from film to print. I even sold a few images. 

Leap forward a couple of years and I get married. New wife and lack of time forced me to put away my gear for a few years.  I would do a few point and shoot photos during travel and family events but had lost the creative spark.  Then digital cameras came along, right about the same time I was working as a web developer and learning image manipulation in Photoshop and other programs. The spark was once again ignited and I bought a 2MP point and shoot with a great lens, low noise at 800 ISO and an excellent zoom. It got me out exploring again. I even landed a gig shooting location shots for a local tourism board.

After playing with the point and shoot camera for a while I finally invested in a 6MP Canon and a couple of L grade lenses. Then began the process of learning DSLR workflow and image production. I got some great birding shots with this new setup and some good scenics. However family time and work began to get in the way of spending any time with the camera and even more so post processing.

Now its late in 2014 and I have decided to start again. I pulled out the 6MP and gave myself some assignments to bring back that feeling you get when you go shoot for a reason. I find my self wanting to go where others have gone to see if I can reproduce their great shots. Big mistake. I need to think more like an artists and once again see photographs from my point of view and emotions. So my goal over the coming year is to create new tripod holes even if visiting locations other have shot before. Try longer exposures, think in black and white, experiment with over/under exposure, and think of the possibilities while shooting. I would like to also dust off the 4×5 camera and relearn film and darkroom techniques. If the budget allows I will likely upgrade my DSLR to 21MP+ in 2015.

I can’t spend all my time on photography due to work and family limitations so I am starting this blog to help me explore what images come and are missed. The digital workflow with lightroom is much faster than old photoshop workflows and I am more apt to throw away 80% of what I shoot in search of the images that truly work.