Todd_L's photostream  

Living in Tampa, FL with my better half and no less than a dozen or so dogs (we are part of a dog rescue - dachshunds to be exact). While that takes most of our time these days, I also spend a lot of time working on my 100+ year old house. I'm also a scuba instructor (not teaching currently).

I have always been a huge photography fan and have recently started shooting my own stuff now that I have my first 'real' camera (Nikon D40). While I'm searching for others to shoot, I'll work on using myself as the subject. I have all sorts of ideas that stem from whatever feeling I have at the moment.

I am a fan of figure shots and black & white photography. I am of course very comfortable in my own skin and find nudity to be very beautiful and natural. I realize that some have a huge hangup on nudity, I have a huge hangup on cruelty and violence yet Quentin Tarintino draws a huge box office even from those ultra-conservatives. I'll take Janet Jackson's nipple jewelry anyday and not complain of the emotional trauma inflicted.

I also know that male nudity is not held to the same standards of 'beautiful works of art'. Maybe it's due to the senseless shots of 'the member' that are so un-creative and un-interesting. You won't find those on my stream, but I also won't automatically 'block' somebody that shows a penis like many narrow minded folks do.

I have just shot my first shoot from behind the camera. It's a dream that I had been either unprepared for, afraid of or not confident enough to do. But after 20 years of dreaming of it, things fell into place.

I'm a professional by day, computer / software industry. So it's difficult being an artist and also wrapped up in that world and having people understand both sides. Even my ultra conservative family has a hard time understanding the artistic side, so work on these elements alone - but fortunately supported by my wonderful wife....

Please feel free to comment, please drop me a line, critique anything, give me some ideas.

I'd like to recognize some of the other Flickr members who inspire me and have helped push me to take photography to the next level beyond candid snapshooting... if you want to see how a photographer makes their work say something, please check them out. And note how I truly find those engaged in self photography inspire me so....

Julian (Austin TX)
Miss Aniela
Rebekka
Lisa (Slightly Dramatic)
and
Elaine Hudson who has provided me so much constructive feedback, especially on colors....

And lastly, I'm a 40 year old living in Tampa...