Dr Max's photostream  

Software developer, ex-physicist, fiddle player and amateur drinker.

I grew up in Manchester and have lived in Munich, Geneva (twice) and London (three times).

My first point-and-hope camera was a Kodak Instamatic a bit like this but I learned the basics of photography (exposure, depth of field, rule of thirds etc) from my father on his Zenit 3M when I was 11. Then about 2 years later I got a Praktica BC1, for which I eventually acquired 50mm, 28-70 and 70-200 lenses and some cheesy Cokin filters, which were acceptable in the 80's. We also did some B&W processing and printing in a makeshift darkroom in our bathroom which was a great laugh.

My SLR snobbery evaporated when I was about 23; I was given an Olympus Superzoom 120 and never looked back. Then after that was nicked by some scallies in Ireland in about 2000 I reverted to my SLR.

Then at the end of 2002 I got a tiny and beautiful Sony U10 (28mm f2.8 lens, ONE megapixel :-) which I used nearly every day to take photos of my friends and me skiing, drinking and/or dancing. What a convert to digital I became :-) A year or so later I upgraded to a Pentax Optio S40 (4MP and a zoom!) which I used for about two years but which has now taken a back seat to my DSLRs. When I got a 20D in 2006 things got really out of hand. Well, now my backup cameras are my phone (a Dell Streak), and a spiffy little Panasonic Lumix TZ7 which have the advantage of not weighing as much as a housebrick.

Gear geekery alert!

Bodies
Canon EOS 5D
Canon EOS 20D
Olympus E-P1

Lenses
Canon 24mm f2.8, Canon 50mm f1.4, Canon 100mm f2, Canon 200mm f2.8LII (borrowed),
Tamron Adaptall 90mm f2.5 Macro (MF),
SMC Takumar 135mm f3.5, Flektogon 35mm f2.4, C/Y Zeiss 50mm f1.7,
Canon 17-40mm f4, Tamron 28-75mm f2.8, Sigma 100-300 f/4

Panasonic 20mm f1.7

Stuff
Canon 430EXII flash with Yongnuo RF-602 triggers.
Manfrotto 190CXPRO3 carbon fibre tripod with a Gitzo G1278M head. Felt a bit extravagant buying this but if it was heavy I'd never use it so what's the point?


OK that's quite enough gear geekery. Go and look at my photos, I hope you like some of them. Criticism very welcome, of course.

Oh, and one other thing - I take loads of pictures of friends and family but I don't think the internet is place for them. That's why my photo stream is mostly non-human.