OK, so it took me a while to update my profile ;0)

I'm no professional, and I'm no expert! I've learnt pretty much all I know about photography in the last few years - I always enjoyed snapping, and my Dad was a keen SLR owner - which I inherited when he passed away. I wish he still had it, and that we could share our enthusiasm together- I try not to regret too much in life.... and I'll try not to wander off down sentimental street right now!!!

I never really 'got it' until I got my first D-SLR - by being able to view the (somewhat bewildering) results immediately, I started learning how to take better shots. I am completely self taught, give or take the odd photo magazine or book.

Despite being a 'newby', I'm still a little bit 'old school' -I don't like to get too deep into photoshop manipulation - though I will boost my RAW images when necessary to give more punch to the colour, contrast or sharpness. Nevertheless, it's true to say you cannot 'save' a badly taken photograph, but you can make average, or quite good pictures a bit better.

I tend to use Lightroom 2 for pretty much everything - mainly to keep my workflow quite quick and painless. I know I would get better results from photoshop, and maybe I should use it more... I'm certainly not against anyone who does use photo 'manipulation' (or should that be 'enhancement?) software, the only reason I don't use it heavily is a time and effort issue, rather than any moral stance.

My contacts are important to me... it is their comments I always look for first and, whilst it's nice to receive 50+, 100+ (etc..) comments even when they're made up of flashing shiny codes copied and pasted, I do look for what my contacts say before taking notice of the shiny flashy comment codes! I'm in danger now of having too many contacts to cope with. So, please read the 'disclaimer' regarding contacts at the top of this page.

Why not take a look at my favourites from other Flickr users - you may get an idea of what I like - you might also see some you want to look at closer.

I do try and look at everyone's photostream that leaves me a comment. I try and comment on others as much as I can. So, if you've left comments, thank you so much. If I haven't left comments on any of your work, I possibly just haven't got around to looking yet.

As with everyone else on Flickr, I treasure my pictures (even the ones of inferior technical quality), so please respect the fact that these belong to me... I will probably allow you to use my pictures, especially if you ask nicely :-)

Cheers

Darrell