"It's not about the fishing".
I have been a photography buff for many years. It all started when Santa Claus gave me a Kodak Instamatic camera for Christmas when I was quite young.
While in High School I took photography classes, was one of the staff photographers for the yearbook and earned enough money working at the filling station across the street from the school to buy my first good camera, a Nikon Nikkormat FTN.
All of the header photographs on my site I took with either my Nikon EL, my Mamiya RB67 medium format camera or with a digital camera. I have reduced the quality of the photographs so that they will load quickly in a web browser.
My current digital camera is a Canon S3-IS. I did a lot of research before I bought it. Consumer reports rated it very high as did two independent camera review sites on the Internet. Those two sites focused more on the quality of the photographs than Consumer Reports did. It takes very good quality photographs for a sub $400 camera. The video clips it takes are the best in class. Although it is great for amateur and point-and-shoot photography, it lacks the sophistication of the high-end digital SLRs. For the money, though, it is a hard camera to beat; especially with the lens extender/filter accessory and add-on macro lens.
You can check out some of our recent photos on our Gallery.
I have been an avid pursuer of black & white photography from the start. Simply put, B&W photography, at the time, was the simplest and cheapest way in to photography as a hobby. It was easy to learn, although takes a lifetime to master, and one could set up a rudementary darkroom in a broom closet if need be...which is what I did at home in my basement.
I have loved B&W photographs ever since and always seem to turn back to them for special occassions. With the coming of the digital age, B&W photography seems to have been relegated to the Recycle Bin for the more convenient digital cameras.
Every once in a while you come across a B&W photograph, but not often. More often than not it is a digital color photograph that was pulled down to gray-scale in a software application. When that's done, you lose the true brilliance of B&W photographs.
Black and white film in the hands of a master has no equal either in the studio world or the outdoors. B&W captures tonal qualities, light, textures, movement and the mood in a much more dramatic fashion. One photographer I found recently is Jan Grarup. His photographs capture these essences better than most. Check out Jan Grarup's photographs; they are truly intoxicating.
The late Ansel Adams is another photographer that I hold in great esteem. For those fortunate enough to have attended his classes, were truly taught by one of, if not the finest photographer in modern times. I have read each of his books cover-to-cover numerous times. It is not the same as seeing him in person. It can't be. Some things just cannot be taught by books alone. But they will always remain an inspiration for me.