I love photography!

My first camera was a Kodak Instamatic that I got for my birthday when I was in middle school. From there I moved up to the Voigtlander my dad had bought in Germany during his army days in the 1950's. My first SLR was an Olympus OM1 that served me well through most of the 1980's. The shutter broke on a vacation to San Diego and I never managed to get the camera repaired. I ended up with a Kodak Advantix, but that was hardly a "real" camera to me and my interest in photography sort of died.

Enter my first DSLR, a Canon EOS Rebel XT, in 2007 and I was off and running again. My first EFS 55-250mm opened a whole new world to me and I started spending as many Saturdays as possible in the Butterfly Pavilion and Mediterranean Conservatory at the Albuquerque Botanical Gardens capturing butterflies and flowers. And thus my love of macro photography was born.

I moved up to a Canon EOS Rebel T2i and traveled for two weeks through Turkey and Greece and by the time I got home in November 2012 my love of photography was a passion! The winter of 2013 found me expanding my photographic horizon to include birds - but I just didn't have a long enough lens!

After some wheeling and dealing, saving my pennies, doing my research and making a serious investment I now have the following gear:

Canon EOS 60D

EF25 II Extension Tube

EF12 II Extension Tube

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM

Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 DC

Sigma 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3 DC MACRO

Manfrotto 055XPro B tripod

My Dad, Larry Nelson, taught photography to all three of his girls (my sister Cathy is CatMcCray here on Flickr) and while Parkinson's Disease robbed him of the ability to take pictures, his eyes lit up when I showed him my images. So Dad, this photostream is for you - Thank you! (Dad died January 10, 2016.)

Thank you for your comments and faves – they are greatly appreciated! Please don't be offended if I don't add you as a contact (or follow you) - I want to make sure that my friends here on Flickr get the comments and faves they so richly deserve and I only have so much time.