As a young child, my parents bought me one of those Kodak™ cameras that used the disk film. Much to my parents dismay, I took lots of photographs — none of which were notable as great photographs. But it was my first exposure to photography. To my parents’ benefit, those cameras were notorious for breaking easily. Also to their benefit, I was notorious for breaking things. So two cameras later, it was decided that I wasn’t quite ready for a camera.

Time passed and High School came. In my senior year, I was accepted in my college two days after school started. With all of the academic credits that I needed, and the motivation of a sales clerk, I dropped some of my more difficult courses in favor of a photography course. This became my first real exposure to photography. Armed with my father’s Nikon N2000 35mm SLR, I learned all about the basics of photography. And then I fell in love with the art form.

For many years, I only experimented from time to time with my father’s camera (which at this point I somewhat claimed as my own). But I kept most of my own works to myself. I did, however, spend a lot of time reading books, browsing web sites and learning more about the art. Then, about four or five years ago, I suddenly got the bug and started spending much more time (and money) on my hobby. Especially after discovering DeviantArt, I found myself sinking a lot of money into developing costs. The camera itself was a great camera (still is). Many of my earlier images were taken with that camera. And even after the conversion process, this camera was capable of many things. But alas, it was time to move on.

Early in 2007, I bought myself a new camera, a Nikon D80. I was incredibly happy with my old camera, and the D80 seemed like the logical choice for the jump to digital. Bonus is that I can still use some of my old lenses (in manual mode). The digital world took some getting used to, but it has many benefits. Each picture is tagged with thinks like ISO, focal lengths, aperture settings - tools that I have found incredibly useful in honing my skills. In the past year, I really think my skills have jumped exponentially because of my new camera. And I think that it showing in the quality of my work which has gotten progressively better in the past year.

Shutter is going to be my home to photography. While I still maintain a gallery on DeviantArt, this will be the best place to learn more about me, see more of my works and possibly learn a few things along the way. From a philosophical point of view, I believe in the sharing of knowledge. So I will post whatever tips and secrets that I uncover. Enjoy your time here on Shutter. I hope to see you again sometime soon.

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