As of 2008, I am in my mid thirties. I am now getting back into photography after a several years break. I took several classes in college. These weren't what I would call helpful. Mostly they focused on making prints, less on critique and technique. The portrait class I took was a massive failure, with no explanation of lighting, posing or communicating.

With the focus on printing, I ended up getting a job at a commercial photo lab. I worked there for 10 years and was the one who headed up the switch to digital printing. After 3-4 years there, I wasn't in the darkroom anymore. I spent more time in Photoshop, Illustrator and Quark at the time. Unfortunately, working in a commercial lab, you don't see much "interesting" work. Most of what I saw was motors, gas pumps and other industrial products. There was the odd architectural photog, but they were few and far between. Looking at all of this suffocated any interest in photography.

Once that lab closed, I moved to an exhibit house that was a former client. I am still there. Currently, I design and print large format graphics for trade shows and corporate displays. Again, there isn't anything interesting going on. The only clients that regularly use photography are funeral home companies, and that gets old quick.

I renewed my interest in photography at my current job. One coworker is a talented artist that is dabbling in photography and there is another coworker that has been playing with photography for years. I finally made the switch to digital last year after realizing any film I shot was then scanned and digitally printed. I enjoy the freedom to experiment and instant feedback of digital. Happily, the internet came along once my interest was renewed, and I have learned tons from sites such as strobist.com, potn and photocamel.

I have one daughter who ends up being my model most of the time, with her mother being the model the rest of the time. Hopefully, I will be able to expand my knowledge and creativity using flikr and the stlstrobist group.

Take care.

Dug