My story, short form

My first digital camera was a small Gateway 1 megapixel camera. It's unfortunate for me that I grew up in the age of complete digital, but it's a great learning experience to start off with a basic digital and grow up with it, it's kinda neat too. I do have plans of attending photography classes to learn the "roots" of photography and get a good understanding of photography. That is the important part of this experience to me, UNDERSTANDING, I feel I have a grasp on some aspects of photography and I can change the aperture or switch from ISO 100 to 400 but I want to understand WHY I do the things I do. I believe it will make me a better photographer and a more disciplined photographer.

So, like I said, my first camera was a cheap $100 Gateway 1 megapixel camera that I used and used and used! I had that thing with me nearly every step of the way from taking pictures of my Subaru to taking pictures of our Thanksgiving Dinner. It was a great camera and through the inspiration of a fellow photographer I learned to look for angles and lighting and get a small glimmer into what it was like "behind the lens." However, this particular "lens" started to become obsolete quickly.

I have always been a fan of poker and cards in general, I love math and what better inspiration to win a game of poker than to upgrade my camera! I entered a poker tournament with about 486 people in Rolla (Where i went to get my B.S. degree) with a prize pool of a 22" TV, Potable HDD, Poker table, poker chips, and the top of my list, a Nikon Coolpix L3 camera. I ended up placing third in the tournament and was luckily able to choose the Nikon Camera for my prize! I was completely siked and I think I took nearly 200 pictures with it that night just trying to learn how to use it and get used to it. This is when I learned to love the tripod, height and angle can make or break a photo and Photoshop basics can help make any picture "pop."

Like the camera it replaced, this one went with me everywhere! I was known to be sneaking around to catch as many candid pictures as possible in the house I lived in with 25 other guys. I took it with me to the Rally-America rally in Salem, MO and took it to every concert I went to. Eventually I learned the limitations of this camera as well. I wanted to control shutter speed, have the option of an off-the-camera flash and to have focus control of my camera.

I called around, searched online, off-line and every in between. I eventually found my first DSLR in Pensacola, Florida, 45 minutes from where my stationed in Ft. Walton Beach, FL and for sale at the same time my then girlfriend and I were going to be visiting. I purchased my Nikon D40x along with a Nikkor 18-135mm lens and started taking pictures the moment I got the camera in my hands. I must've taken 500 photos the first 2 days, the beach scenes, my bother's motorcycle, his boat, the dolphins in the bay and the spectacular sunsets that Florida offers.

After that I read, shot, read, shot and continued to read about everything I could get my hands on or type into Google as possible! Trial and error is a huge benefit of the digital age, it doesn't cost me anything to try multiple exposures and multiple shots changing one small thing at a time, if I don't like it, preview it and delete it.

After shooting with the D40x for a year I purchased a Nikon D80. On top of that I had already purchased a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 and vivtar hv285 flash. The D80 + 50mm is a perfect match and I coudln't ask for a better band for the buck lens!

To start off my real photography settings my brother and sister-in-law brought in one of the cutest baby girls ever. Addison Jane was a real trooper in my first real photoshoot!