PhotoDocGVSU's photostream  

Hey folks!



Welcome to my Flickr site!

I hope you enjoy your visit. Comments (including constructive criticism) are always appreciated:

I am keeping a collection of several hundred artistic photographs (organized by themes) here. If you are interested in seeing more (including shots from my recent travels, as well as a collection of more personal "snapshots"), please click over to my Picasa site:

picasaweb.google.com/PhotoDocGVSU/

PLEASE NOTE THAT ANY IMAGE THAT YOU SEE HERE IS AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE.

Please send me a Flickr mail if you're interested.

Since Flickr seems to be full of rules these days, let me outline a few of my own:

1) If you want to use one of my photos for a blog, website, publication etc. please ASK: If I discover anyone is using my images without permission I WILL TAKE LEGAL ACTION!

2) Please don't be insulted if I don't add you as a contact or join the group you've invited me to. I try to keep my contact and group lists short (and limited to friends and subject areas that correspond to my photographic interests). I do this so that I have time to leave MEANINGFUL comments on people's work. If you'd really like to be one of my contacts please send me an e-mail and comment on my work. I do occasionally add folks who are willing to exchange ideas.

3) I'm sorry if I'm being rude, but I'm just not interested in commenting out of obligation. Hence, I simply ignore group rules that state "you must comment on 3 photos, fave 2, invite 1 etc." I comment on things when I have something worthwhile to say. If you're a group Admin and you find this attitude unacceptable, feel free to ban me, no hard feelings.

OK ... enough negative stuff. If you're interested, here's some personal info. Otherwise, let's get back to what brought us here ... AWESOME PHOTOGRAPHY!

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I'm 39 and work as an Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at Grand Valley State University (GVSU) in Grand Rapids, MI. I enjoy teaching classes about criminology, juvenile delinquency, public policy and research methods. My faculty web profile can be found here:

www.gvsu.edu/cj/christopher-kierkus-93.htm

I'm originally from Canada, and did my first 3 stints of schooling in the Windsor, Ontario area (St. Paul's Elementary School in LaSalle, Holy Names High School in South Windsor, and the University of Windsor for my BA in Criminology).

After that, I moved to London, Ontario (where I did an MA in Sociology at Western) and then to Albany, NY where I did a second MA and a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice. I've also worked as a statistician for a research group affiliated with Ford Motor Company, and have taught classes at the Universities in Windsor and Albany, NY.

My photographic interests are focused on nature scenes, landscapes, birds and other wild animals, but I also dabble in other stuff (abstract, architectural, historic, macro etc.). I think I'm best at capturing vivid, colorful scenes (sunsets, fall color, flowers, colorful birds etc.). I generally don't do portraiture and other "people photos" ... but I do appreciate folks who specialize in them

My current "photo project" is trying to photograph all 100+ lighthouses dotting the coast of Michigan. My wife and I have been to about 60 so far. I really like lighthouses regardless of where they're located ... there's something about the solitude, history, and water front locations that make them very special. I also run a lighthouse group here on Flickr, which you can access here:

www.flickr.com/groups/perfectlight/

I'm also working on capturing the unique scenic beauty of West Michigan. I'm proud to report that one of my images recently won the "Pure Michigan" seasonal photo contest (for Spring, 2010)!

puremichiganphotoclub.com/

Most of the recent shots in my photostream were taken with a Canon 7D DSLR (matched with either a Tamron 18-270mm F3.5-6.3 VC "all in one" lens, a 50mm F1.4 Canon lens, 105mm F2.8 Sigma Macro lens or a 50-500mm F4.5-6.3 OS "Bigma II" telephoto lens).

I love the low light capabilities and blazing fast auto focus / frame rate of the 7D. I frequently use circular polarizers in my work but avoid tripods like the plague! I also rarely use flash, but do have a Canon 430ex Speedlight and a Gary Fong "lightsphere" in my kit.

Some of my earlier shots were taken with a Canon Powershot A40 (bought in 2002), a Panasonic Lumix FZ-10 (bought in 2004), an Olympus E510 DSLR (purchased in 2006), or a Nikon S51 (bought in 2007).

As you can see, brand loyalty means bupkas to me! ;-)

Besides photography, I also enjoy hiking in the great outdoors, traveling (especially to historic locations), pistol and skeet shooting, archery, driving my convertible (my wife and I own a VW Eos), lifting weights, reading historic or "techno thriller" novels, collecting Lego and antique glass (how's that for eclectic?) and playing video games (especially Nintendo Wii).

I am married to an Elementary School teacher and we have a Terrier / Dachshund mix named Sandy ... she's our only "kid".