lsmartin53's photostream  

I came to photography rather late in life when I met my boyfriend (a wildlife photographer) in 2002. He jokes that I had a home range of ~ a 30-sq. mi radius until I met him. Although it was not quite that extreme, I admit that the first night I heard him speak, I realized how small my world had been for almost 50 years! He had seen more places in one year than I had seen in a lifetime!

Using only a disposable camera at the time, and having never really owned a good camera, photography was a new area of exploration for me. Tom purchased a Nikon D70 for me, gave me a few of his old lenses, and tried to teach me about composition, depth of field, and other photography necessities. It was definitely a challenge for him, as he thought I would never understand f-stops! LOL. But I confess that although I enjoyed learning, I did not yet appreciate how often I needed to shoot. Tom called it to my attention that I never got my camera out except when we took trips, and I had to admit that was true.

In 2008, I enrolled in a RMOWP photo workshop at Rocky Mountain National Park. That was another life-changing experience. It was a wonderful workshop, and I committed to myself to try to get out and shoot daily if possible (not always easy to do with a full-time position at SIUC). The workshop coordinator (Nic512) encouraged all of the participants to get a Flickr account to share our photos with each other. Another wise decision for me.

I soon began to get out by myself and learn my camera. I found myself looking forward to any free time I had to escape to nature. My photography skills soon began to improve, but I still consider myself a novice. I upgraded to a Nikon D300 and purchased myself an 18-200mm, a great all-purpose lens for me. I also now own a macro and a wide-angle lens. Tom loaned me a very old, but excellent lens--a Nikon fixed 400mm 3.5 lens. Since it was made for a film camera, it does not have sensors to register EXIF data from my camera (in case you wonder why the data is missing on some of my photos). I also have to manually focus (a challenge with my vision), but I am having a blast with the lens.

I hope you enjoy my photostream.