I started seriously birding in 2008. This is when I started spending more time in the parks of Chicago and realized that there is a huge variety of birds in Chicago if you just know where and when to look. I had bought a Nikon D80 DSLR the previous year for no real purpose other to take on vacations. But by spring 2009, birding and photography had become inseparable to me. In the past couple years, I've also branched out to include insect photography, especially butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies.

My current gear:

Nikon D3100 DSLR

Sigma 150-500 mm for birding

Nikon 105mm macro

Nikon 70-300mm - not so good for birding, but great for insects that are too skittish for macro photos