For more than a half century I have been fascinated by and drawn to photography. I was given my first camera by an aunt when I was seven years old, a Kodak 620 Box camera. In the late 1960's I moved into the world of the 35mm SLR and remained a film shooter for many years, finally making the move to digital when I purchased a Nikon D200.

Today, I use a number of cameras, mostly Nikon and Fuji and am perhaps most drawn to Street Photography. While my interest in photography covers many subjects and styles, I have not yet mastered the art of post processing so most of my images which you will see in my stream are "captured" images with only the most basic alterations (if any) before posting. While I have had one feature on the Weather Channel . com's web site, and have had several of my images used in publications and books, in addition to selling a couple of images without promotion, I pretty much remain an avid amateur photographer, ... well, 'maybe' a "semi-professional" since I have sold a couple of images and been published a few times.

I post to many groups and enjoy perusing the various groups, however I do not like to post group awards nor am I fond of the seemingly popular habit of everyone giving 'awards' to one another. I feel that all of the icons and flashy 'awards' are often 'given' by others simply because many persons think that they will receive such 'awards' themselves. Instead, I prefer to share my thoughts and comment on others images. Consequently, I see no real value in "following" thousands of individual photographers, as it is realistically impractical to actually follow and keep up with such a large number of individuals. I do, however, somewhat closely follow about three hundred accomplished photographers from around the world and immensely enjoy their work and sharing ideas with them. If I notice that you have become 'inactive' {defined by me only as one who has posted nothing new in six months or more} I will generally stop following you as I presume you'll not be reading comments on your images.

I almost never post images of friends and family and try not to post multiple images of the same object or subject. To me, personally, few things are as annoying as going to ones Photo Stream only to find dozens upon dozens of mundane images of the same thing. It distracts from any quality images you may be posting. If you are serious about photography, I will welcome your visit and most certainly your comments and critiques. I enjoy knowing where you are from and enjoy seeing the creative images from my photographer friends from around the world. I currently post exclusively to Flickr and not to other social media sites. {Update: I have 'established' an account on 'Instagram' but have not yet started posting there regularly} I would say that my greatest personal interest in photography involves STREET PHOTOGRAPHY, though I occasionally shoot travel, some scenic and a bit of photojournalism. I do not want to limit my 'fun' and 'fulfillment' with photography, but over the last few years it is clear that Street Photography is my real passion.

Let me hear from you via email if you like, or by comments within our photo streams. And, if you have been a somewhat frequent viewer of my images and would care to offer any type of testimonial.....that too would be welcomed! Happy shooting, my flickr friends.

Tom Driggers

Atlanta, Georgia USA

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