I live in a small town in Northeastern New York State. I am learning photography in my old age, and started posting my photos on February 26, 2022. I joined Flickr back in 2007, way before I had any photographic ambitions.

[Adding this on August 30th, 2026: After I switched from the Lumix GH5 to Nikon Z8, I lost most of my enthusiasm for photography. Apparently, there's more you can do with a more sophisticated camera, but I'm not getting it. I regret buying the more expensive camera not only for the money it cost, but for the disappointment of learning (at a high cost) that it is not the camera that matters most; it's the enthusiasm, the experimentation, the exploration. There's just too much to fiddle with, too much to learn and to remember when I'm out there with the Nikon. I should just sell it and get one of those little Lumix cameras that fit in my pocket.]

After doing photography for a while, I have come to think of photos in three categories: artistic, referential and high proficiency. An artistic photo intends to make a statement or tell a story which is greater than the sum of its parts; it is not merely a picture of those things or that scene, and it may not even be a representation of a thing. A referential photo is a representation of a person, thing or scene; it is a functional reference. A high proficiency photo goes beyond mere representation and attempts to capture the greatest detail, the highest speed, the best color or the most fleeting moment possible. (Of course there is plenty of overlap between the categories). The easiest, I think, is the referential photo. Artistic is next because it can be done without reference to clarity or proficiency -- but you need an idea or a concept. Highly proficient photos, like macro, high speed or time lapse (e.g. astro-photography) require skill and equipment. I have been trying all three of these photo categories. Turns out, the artistic ones win.

Here's my YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@neddanison9202/videos