petepixxx's photostream

I'm a MI USA photographer. Started taking pix regularly, with my own darkroom, in the tenth grade. Had a twin lens reflex Yashica which I bought from Century Camera. I frequented that store until it closed in 2008, a touching time. I have used Nikon SLRs (FE, FM, FM2, F100 etc), now dSLRs (d200/d300) & lenses for over 40 years.

Got a college degree in Radio/TV production. Did multi-media multi-projector slide/movie/video computer coordinated shows, general AV Tech support, industrial training & shows. Spent several seasons in community theatre, mostly in musicals myself, but did tech (lighting & audio) for other types of shows. Photographed runners, speed walkers & boaters for a while on and around Belle Isle (& Motor City Striders). I was peaking at seven miles @seven minute miles, not too horrible for a heavy-weight guy. My longest run was 20 miles. Then got into computers and databases, accounting and finance, and began to photo only weddings on weekends mostly to get out of the house & some pocket change.

For some other history, I got a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. I credit that belt for getting me thru some tough years in a very dangerous high school in Detroit. Turned to dance in college. Took modern, jazz, then ballet classes and private lessons for several years. Did the tech stuff for shows around Michigan. Roller skated (figures) out out Skate World of Troy in 1981. Learned RS dances up to Gold Level, Foxtrots were tough! Luv to shoot, watch, enjoy & remember good times from all my activities.

Re-discovered some interest in Yoga in 2008. Got very inspired by Tara Stiles on UTube/iYogaLife, etc. till she got so "commercial" and lost her personal touch. Still, she is fantastic!!

Musically, I can watch Jennifer Nettles sing, turned up full blast, on uTube for hours... My mySpace is more than half Musical friends. Several Indie or un-lableled and fantastic, a couple "almost wonderful" with potential. I use mySpace as my portal to link to music, pix, art, etc. I used to play guitar but the fingers aren't nimble anymore. I play some Electronic keyboard for fun, but I'm horrible. Had a few years of classical voice training, and I can still sing a bit.

Can't stay away from the water. I've loved it every since I was in diapers, really! I like boating so many water pics will be from my red rubber bottomed two person Folbot foldable Greenland kayak (Folbot.com). I rowwed for Wayne state for four years, skulled out of the Detroit Boat Club. Got a couple of trinkets that tell me I wasn't too bad. I still watch oarsmen and dream...

I've been doing mostly wedding photography professionally. I like to play in Photoshop, but mostly like to "tweak" rather than "create". I just love the results.

Flickr has developed into being used for my self improvment & a few personal photos. C&C is fine. Adoration is always welcome! Flickr compression & added contrast drives me buggy some times. Hope you like.

This being a public site my pictures will be PG-13 rated or better/Less(?). Mostly bland & uninteresting PC comments as well. It's the interweb, right?

Be kind!

Taste-wise, I mostly like more "natural" looking pictures, not heavily Photoshopped. I really dislike the current trend of stark white over corrected eyeballs & burned out skin tones ( makes me cringe). I'm not too fond of the over-Blurred skin fixes either, but some doll styles are OK.

To get started on Flickr I've loaded mostly archived travel photo favs. As I go along I'll add more current stuff. I'll try to add technical comments if I did more than tweak exposure/hue/saturation/sharpness (you know, the normal stuff).

In the third year on Flickr I've got several great contacts, 175+ groups, made 2,400+ comments. This is fun!

Have a great day!