Hello a brief intro about me
Hi guys i'm Stu (short for Stuart) i'm 52 and have been with my lass (Shaz) since our late teens. I've had an old SLR for years but my photos have never really been the end goal. I paint wildlife on occassion ,when I get the chance ,which is rare. My camera has been a primary reference tool,also a tool that I use to convey what I've been up too as well. I have a tiny problem with letters my English language will always be a fight and I'll always struggle with it. If i've communicated something poorly please ask my and I'll try harder.
Shaz doesn't have the best health now,her strength is amazing and she won't be beaten,as we both adore animals and have worked with birds,which is now too heavy (lifting wise (shaz has some form of arthritis and a chronic back injury) We decided to set up a dart frog collection,there is always somewhere warn here now for Shaz and the duties are light but time consuming,so keep here busy animals are animals they heal us bring us joy. My mad scheme seems to have worked. Natually I have an interest in marco as some of our frog are VERY small:bg3:.
AT the moment we are having a bit of a tough time:up until the summer I have been a care worker. Basically I looked out for a guy who had a hard time in life he has a brain injury and chronic kidney problems. So for something like 9 years 6 days a week my life had been devoted to trying to help him.Before this I worked extensively with rare breeds of poultry and waterfowl at a private collection. Sadly I found my friend passed back in may, a very hard day not only my friend but my livelyhood gone on the same day.I'm a practical guy who has always made things,I'm now working on building sites,as I needed a new job very quick. Not even time to grieve properly,all very sad. But i'd like to dwell just a few seconds on photography and it's power,not everyone will realise what photos can do for someone like Rodders(RIPmate) .
Rod's brain injury meant he couldn't hold on to everything that we saw. Becuase a lot of his life was spent plugged into a machine,I would take him out into the countryside and show him nature. Part of this was me snapping things he saw. Rod's eyes weren't terribly good,but photogrphy gave him chance to see all we had seen in detail and helped him remember,so enhanced his brain capacity. I can't really convey how much nature and photographs helped him and brought him joy,but I think it's worthy of mention here.
I would hope I have a good eye for colour/composition, as I mentioned I've played with painting all wildlife and birds since childhood:this panda is one of a handful of pictures painted in my adult life(I hope this work out ok being so new here this is a photo of a transparancy,the original is in a private collection:
http://i739.photobucket.com/albums/x...m/IMG_1721.jpg.
So my endevors now are geared towards a much more serious form of nature photography,I have always watched nature and want to try and portray more of what I see. I have probabaly good fieldcraft skills honed over years of watching. I use Canon,I got given some money when my grandparents passed,I bought a 300 f/2.8 is(first version),it's sort of lovely as everytime I go out I think of this amazing couple who meant so much to me!! I have recently upgraded my body to a 1Div i'm still very much learning all this. I also have both mark iii extenders I use with the 300 at times. My processing is all in canonsDPP (3 and 4). At this time I am set on trying to get a really good image off the back of the camera,I shoot RAW/maual almost all the time. i'm basically trying to do this in stages,I figure I can always come back once I have got the practical side of getting my exposures correct and images sharp with post as everything I do now is nondistructive.
Finally i'm as mad as a march hare,always looking to make someone smile,please forgive i'll never change. I suppose when one has been to some very hard places trying to help someone else whom is struggling the ability to use humour becomes something of a godsend so I shan't spare you good folks, either:bg3: I can say there will never be any malice.
Oh one last thing the warmth shown here is lovely even to a new mad guy like me:c3: i'd like to say thanks for reading and hope to contribute as best I can. Take care all
Kind regards
Stu
