About Rob Gruhl / Rob Gruhl  

I got my first camera (a Nikon D70) in August of 2004 and ever since then I've been bitten bad by the photo bug. Tens of thousands of photos later and I still feel like I'm learning more every day. The technical aspects come easiest to me, the seeing part is hard.

In early 2006, for about four months I shot exclusively with a 35mm F2 lens to try and force myself to see photographically rather than play with fancy gear and lenses, then I tried to uncover the secrets of the very wide and very telephoto. For example, the 'Kyoto' set is all shot with a 12-24 and a 70-200. Since discovering strobist.blogspot.com I'm learning not to h8 the flash... it's a process. After reading a bunch and seeing Ryan's (carpe icthus) great results, I'm now using the 85mm 1.4 nikkor most of the time. I like its intimacy. I also enjoy renting a wide variety of lenses - check out my tags as I tag every photo I take with the lens used.

If you looked in my (Domke F-3X) gear bag today, it would contain: Nikon D200, 85mm/1.4, 20mm/2.8, SB-600 Flash, Gray Card, Lens Cloth, 2x 4GB Compact Flash, 2x Nikkon Battery, tabletop tripod legs, mini RRS ball head with flash holding insert, velcro'd flash bounce card.

My goals are first to learn how to use my camera effortlessly so that I can focus on seeing and capturing the image. Second, I want to capture wonderful pictures of my friends without being annoying (no posing, inobtrusive, fun). Third, I want to learn to see beauty in the world around me in my attempt to capture the marvelous.

The best writings I've found on the web that I recommend to my friends and family are at www.prime-junta.net/ under essays. The lessons section is also quite good. My favorite photoshop author is Scott Kelby. My new favorite web resource is the Strobist's flash blog on how to shoot cool off-camera flash: Strobist

In May '06 I had the pleasure of helping a professional shoot a wedding. It was a great experience and has inspired me to seek out more opportunities to assist professionals and learn more in that way. In June '06 I got to shoot a friend's sister's wedding as first photographer. Really fun.

Since then I've been doing a combination of assisting with professional shoots and doing shoots for fun, for free, and for friends. I have an order in for a Nikon D3, so quite excited about photographing my new son in natural light with it.

Please take some time and leave comments - all feedback is welcomed.

Here is a self-portrait:



"Hopefully, you're risking failure every time you make a frame."
-Garry Winogrand