An enthusiast in photography...

I was never interested in photography and never thought I'd get bitten by the bug until I took an accidental portrait of my son, Alex, that turned out to be, in my opinion, my best work I have ever done. Since the day I took that picture, I've had my nose in many photography books to learn how to make those accidental photographs into ones I made on purpose.

I started with a Canon EOS T1i, an excellent camera, which I still own. However, the camera is rather small for my huge hands and even though I added the Canon battery grip, my hands engulfed the camera.

A year later, I decided that my interest in photography was developed well enough to justify the purchase of the Canon EOS 7D. The size was perfect. I soon added a battery grip and the camera became exactly what I had wanted. The high speed burst helps me a lot when taking photos of fast moving objects and Alex, when he's running about. The 7D is complex, and I still stumble now and then, but when I get what I envisioned out of the camera, I'm very satisfied.

I'm also a "noob" at Photoshop, my editor of choice. I'd like to create photographs without relying too much on PS unless it's to use a creative filter or touch-ups.

My Canon EOS T1i hasn't been shelved though. It's been assigned to astronomy duty, taking pictures of deep space objects. I've had a rather frustrating time trying to take pictures through my Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. Once in awhile, I get a halfway decent shot of a galaxy and it keeps my interest in check. I cannot see half of the things with my naked eyes because of my horrible astigmatism and the light pollution around my home. However, even the subpar images I pull from my telescope show me that something IS there, and that alone is exciting enough.