I am an amateur. In the plain sense of the word: someone who loves photography. I am a consulting engineer, travel a lot, work on my own, have a camera with me most of the time. I started with a Kodak fixfocus plastic camera (and 126 film) at the age of 6, got my first real camera (Ricoh 500 GX) at the age of 12, then my first slr (Pentax MX with 50mm f/1.4). Today I use everything from a Nikon Coolpix A or D5500 when travelling, Nikons D750 for the occasional event or wedding, and Rolleiflex / Rolleicord with their tessars for my photographic projects. I know I am much too "technical", sometimes losing myself in technical details more than going out and taking pictures, but in the end that's the advantage of being an amateur: do what you love to do, in the field as much as at home on your computer.