dtmateojr's photostream

I'm into anything artistic in nature.

I'm hooked on music, particularly melodic metal, progressive and old school rock/metal. I love any kind of music with the exception of ska and some types of reggae. I absolutely love classical and country music. I play the guitar and own an Ibanez Sakura Limited Edition and an Epiphone Les Paul Standard.

Photography is my latest addiction. I travel a LOT (i.e. 2 weeks in a month) so I left my band. The camera works well with my current job coz I could always bring it with me. When I travel I take photos using my iPhone and Nikon FE2 film camera loaded with Fuji Superia or Kodak Ultramax. I also have an Olympus E-P1 with 17mm (35mm equiv) prime lens when I travel to familiar places. I used to have a Canon 40D but have since switched to a Nikon D700 for the reason that my film cameras are also Nikon and I could save a lot of money by sharing lenses between my film and digital equipment. My most heavily used camera though is my Sony A700 with 16-105mm kit lens and that's because it is very versatile and easy to use. It is very easy to change and store custom settings on the go.

I also shoot with film especially when I travel to important places. I'm very concerned with archiving my photos and with film I get the negative, the print and scanned images at the same time. It's so easy to lose digital images that is why I want to preserve memories with film. I got several film cameras but I use my Nikon FE2 and FM3A the most.

I'm still trying to discover my own style in photography and would love to try just about anything. I really love shooting landscape but it's also the one that frustrates me the most because I just can't control the light and weather. Landscape photography takes a lot of time and patience but I don't have the luxury of time.

I post photos that I like and NOT what I think other people would like. Since I'm new to serious photography, I do not have a reputation to keep (yet), and as such, I can post whatever I want. I still have my older photos in flickr so I can track my progress. I have come a long way but very far from being a professional.

I use HDR as a tool not as a style. I think that using HDR for everything is not right. I use only HDR when the scene requires it. This means I have already taken a single exposure and checked the histogram for extreme shadows and blown up highlights. I do auto exposure bracketing because my skills aren't there yet. I still have problems figuring out the correct exposure for a scene and relying on the camera to do it for me doesn't always work. I also use HDR to extract colors from a photo that looks flat and if the usual curves adjustment don't help. In this case I use pseudoHDR.

I love to drive. I have driven from Brisbane to Melbourne via Sydney and back (about 4000kms) and did several trips between Brisbane and Sydney. I will pay to drive a bus and would love to try a rally car. I can drive 850Kms in a rally racing game in one sitting doing an average of 120Kmh.