the canon 400D is perfect for me.. it's forgiving but not full proof, you still need to take time and ensure all the pieces are inline before taking a shot... in one of the creative modes that is...great for a beginner. I got mine in March 2008 after a friend with a 350D and a great eye for photography inspired me to splurge.. being the type of person who must know everything about how sometime works I signed up for an 8wk photography course and soon fell in love with the creative possibilities of photography..I discovered Flickr and spent hours of lost time linking from one artist to the next.. amazed, sometimes spending all night flicking from one shot to the next getting lost in the world of flickr, fav'ing for ideas and commenting on what I saw as impossible to shoot.. then I found photoshop and the possibilities of manipulation, enhancement and then HDR!! for months I spent mornings up and down the coast here in Sydney looking for new shots and angles taking 3 exposures of everything always keeping HDR in mind.. Now though, a year on, I've changed direction abit playing with ND grads, desat shots and B&W to keep me interested! for me progression in photography is more important than specialising in one area. I love landscapes for example but lifestyle works with people etc is also interesting and sometimes harder to do well.. As a mad MotoGP fan as well, I've also played around with my kit 300mm which does a reasonable drop at the track.

More than a year on since getting the SLR, she's now scratched and beaten and a bit rusty and dusty from those outing but the sea or treks on the inca trail.. Of course I'd love the new 5DmkII but it's not in the affordable bracket right now.. maybe next year!

Lastly, thanks to all my friends on Flickr who spend the time to check out my work and comment on the stuff I feel worthy of posting. I'm a crap commenter, commenting for the sake of putting something against a shot annoys me so I perfer just to check in regularly on my friends work and continually be amazed!

All the best.. GAVA.

P.S. I'm always keen to meet up and discover new places if anyone's ever around.. cheers!