A quick bio- I retired two years ago and moved from the South to Montana so I could get away from the four H's: Heat, Humidity, Hurricanes, and Hassles. My wife and I have spend the last two years fixing up a house that REALLY needed fixing up. About this time last year, I came to the conclusion I needed something to do to give me a passion in life, but I did not know what it was at that time.
I attended an arts and crafts fair and ran into a professional photographer who was manning his booth at the fair. I was greatly impressed by his pictures and started discussing his work with him. I had piddled with photography in graduate school and spent many hours in a dark room developing and printing electron micrographs, and our discussion brought back the memory of how much fun I had doing it. I asked the photographer, whose name is Nick Fucci, if he gave lessons. He informed me he was teaching at the local community college and that he gave private lessons too. The next thing I know I am standing in the middle of the National Bison Range in sub-zero weather taking pictures.
I am pleased to say that I have found the passion I was looking for and have jumped in with both feet. I learned quite some time ago that if you wanted to get really good at anything you had to have the best equipment that you could afford so it was not to become a limiting factor in your development. I have purchased the new Mark IV, numerous L lenses including a 500mm,and numerous books from which to learn. Nick recently told me about Birds as Art and Arthur, so I purchased his books. These, I have found, to be the best source for an understanding of exposure theory and practice do to Arthur's style of putting all the pertinent information with his pictures so you can see what the conditions were and his exposure thought processes are at the time of the picture.
I intend to reap all the benefits offered by this forum, Arthur's newsletter, and first hand experiences gained by continuing to work closely with Nick. I am open to any and all constructive comments and criticisms as i proceed on my journey.
Thanks James for the acknowledgement. Can you offer a little help here? I do not understand how to put a picture under my name so it can be seen with my user name.
Dee, welcome to BPN! We're so glad to have you. Feel free to post in the regular forums or stop by the Eager to Learn area if you want gentler critiques with a little more step-by-step guidance.
I believe to put a photo under your name you do that in the profile section. Look along the top toolbar and you'll see a link for "settings". Go to that page and on the left side you'll see a place where you can enter a profile photograph. Let me know if you still have problems!
Welcome Dee
Nature photography is about the best thing I took up 15 years ago. It makes me appreciate life and respect life and the fact that the animals and flora need us with the passion to show and share to help to protect. Without us, the world would be even more ignorant of what's out there and how wonderful it is.
BPN is the best place for you to learn and hone your skills.
Welcome DD. And thanks for the kind words. I would love to see your stuff. If you post something in Wildlife send me a link; I do not have much time to hang out there. Passion is where it's at!
BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.
BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.
Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,