Hello,

My name is Blake. I live in a small city in Manitoba where I grind(ed) out a living as a salesperson. I started selling camera equipment right after obtaining my B.Sc. in Geography. When I started in that position I had absolutely no knowledge on cameras or photography. Three months later I was one of the top 3 sales people for the largest electronics retail company in Canada and fell in love with photography. I have a beautiful girlfriend who I love and adore, a better family then I could ever ask for, and fantastic friends.

Photography is one of my favorite hobbies which is fairly new to me. I purchased my current DSLR about 2 years ago as of this writing which means my warranty is up. Damn. I shoot with a Sony a35 and a Tamron 28-75 f2.8 that i have practically glued to the front of it. I am currently trying to upgrade my cheep Sony DT telephoto to Tamrons SP 70-300mm f4-5.6. My current focus is on developing my technique and application with flash guns. As of April 15th I am now the proud owner of a Sony f43am flash gun. This is in addition to my LumoPro LP160 that I plan to use as a secondary light source.

I shoot strictly in RAW and do the bulk of my post with Aftershot Pro and major edits in Paintshop Pro 4x.

In the future I think i would like to purchase a true macro lens and get into the big world of small things. If I could somehow manage to earn an income on the side with photography would kill for the a99 matched to the zeiss 135mm f1.8 .

P.S. "Pros don't shoot with Sony" is not a negative for purchasing equipment for yourself. A smaller number of professionals do compared to Nikon and Canon. Brand loyalty is silly and very poor for making new purchasing decisions and fighting the eternal "my choice of brand is best" argument . Buy a product that fits your needs and budget. If I had 1500 at the time I'd own a D7000 and be shooting with Nikon equipment. The a35 was the perfect fit for me and that's why I shoot with Sony. Given the choice to buy all my gear over again right now with now monetary constraints, I'd get an a99.