Flickr: Boldstar

Serious (my wife would say "obsessed") hobbyist photographer. I've been interested since I was a kid back in the 80s when I found my dad's old Kodak Instamatic X-35F in a box in the basement. I'd buy film for it and snap shots of my BMX bike, my skateboard, our cats and my neighbourhood gang. Believe it or not, I still have most of those prints.

Since then I've gone through phases, from trigger-happy to couldn't-care-less. Unfortunately, most of my university career fell into the latter phase and now I have very little evidence of some of the best years of my life. That dry spell is one of my biggest regrets.

My interest renewed sometime around 1999 (buying disposable film cameras to use at social gatherings and on road trips with my friends). My wife bought me a Canon point-and-shoot camera in 2003 which I thought was great. I left it in a taxi on the way home from a bar. Then I bought my first digital in 2005 (a Canon A85) which was a frustrating peice of junk but it served its purpose. I finally started to move beyond the snapshots when I bought my S2 IS in 2006 and started networking, joining discussion forums and asking too many questions. I discovered Flickr in '07 and I must say it's been the single best photography learning experience to date.

In 2008 I bought my first entry-level DSLR (a Canon XSi) and now I've moved up a step to one that includes HD video (a Canon T1i). It's a steep learning curve and I'm progressing slowly. It'd be great to someday get paid for taking pictures.

I've got random stuff posted here, some new and some old, some of it good some of it bad. Sooner or later I'll get a pro account, organize my stuff and start posting more.

I like shooting a variety of things but most of it ends up being whatever's in close proximity... social gatherings (my friends are animals), our dog (she's my best pal and a reluctant model), food (not sure how I got into that), stuff around town (boring, I know) and whatever I see on vacation. Don't hold the HDR pics against me; it was a phase and I quickly grew out of it.

My gear
Canon PowerShot S2 IS (purchased January 2006)

Canon EOS Rebel T1i (purchased June 2009)
EF-S 18-55mm IS kit lens
EF 50mm f/1.4 USM lens