About john w / John Weiss  

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I became interested in taking pictures when I was a little kid and then in my twenties disdained the idea of carrying a camera on vacation, thinking it would make me look like a tourist (which I was of course) and believing that it would filter my memories through the photographs I took rather than through what I had actually seen.

Fortunately I outgrew this misguided perception and bought a Minolta SLR, which led to lots of pictures and enjoyment. Having worked with computers for most of my life, I decided to shift to digital photography in 2002 and what had been a nice interest in the use of a camera exploded. Not only could I take as many photos as I wanted without thinking of the cost of development, I also discovered the wonders of Photoshop.

And then to cap it all off, in January 2006, I found Flickr, which introduced me to brilliant photographers and a great education in photography. It also got me looking more closely at my photos and realizing that my enjoyable Nikon Coolpix 4500 could be improved on and so as of October 2006 it is replaced by a Nikon D80 DSLR and the Nikon 18-200mm VR zoom lens.

In Spring 2007, I attended a Black and White workshop in Point Reyes, CA taught by Marty Knapp. It has stimulated my interest in B&W, although not at the cost of still loving color. You can read about the group here.

I came across the following quote from Peter Guttman a professional travel photographer that expresses my new outlook about travel photography:

"Of course there will be people who say that a destination viewed through a camera lens inhibits their ability to enjoy their vacation. “I laugh when people say, ‘Are you really experiencing a trip when your face is behind a viewfinder?”

“I don’t know where to begin to tell them how much richer it is. Travel becomes a very cinematic experience. I am so much more finely tuned to the mystique of the environment around me and the drama of a place when I have my camera.”