About Nearly-Normal  

Hello. Thank you for stopping by. I don't have time to be brief--seldom do--so here are two links straight up for those with challenged attention spans:

∗ My Own Favorites
∗ My Most Popular Photos

For those who're still reading: if you scroll down you'll notice that I have filled in the perfunctory details about "Interests" and such, as though that'll offer deep insight into who I am. Photography is among my many passions, but one that is closest to my heart. I find stills more emotive and experiential than motion. Most of the time.

Relative to the caliber of stuff found on Flickr I'm still very much a neophyte--you'll get an idea from my "Favorites"--but my firm and self-inflicted status as a global vagabond has put me in some interesting situations. For instance the Mt. Fuji picture from atop, which I happened to capture from the window seat of an airplane in full tilt while flying from Tokyo to Nagasaki.

I may have schlepped many of these opportunities as I knew diddly about photography, and I owned--and prided myself on--a Canon Powershot G2, which I thought was the cat's pyjamas, in fact the entire feline wardrobe. Until 2006 that is, at which point I invested in a Nikon D200 and have never looked back (the likes of Leica or Phase One are merely worth coveting from afar). Having owned the D200, now the D300, and also a backup D60, my lesson: get a decent but basic body and save your money for the lenses. Thank me later.

My chief lens is the very, very handy 18-200mm VR, a trendsetter carry-around lens from Nikkor that Canon and others have followed in haste. For pixel peepers, it may not be as sharp as more expensive prime lenses, but its range is addictive and my untrained eyes find its quality quite serviceable.

Like a blind man at an orgy I have had to feel out my way around cameras. Travel photography is now my most frequent endeavor--nature, landscapes, architecture, people doing fun things per local customs. But I am also taking a gander at macros up close and personal.

Although I am comfortable around a computer, "post processing" still holds little appeal to me. No time for Photoshop and HDR gimmickry; I like pictures straight out of the camera as the Lord intended.

My "contacts" here include people I have never met but their photography makes me feel close to them at a level that defies geography or minutiae such as actual meeting. So much joy and wonder to share.

Smiles,
"Nearly Normal" Shashank
[a.k.a Shanx]



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