Ok, time to write down something new again...

When I joined Flickr in 2011, I actually didn't know, what it will mean to me. I just wanted to share some pictures, but soon, I have noticed, that there are so many great photos and photographers here. Spending some time with it, it staretd to be an inspiration to improve my photography. I waded through the deep valley of HDR, have tried out good and less good things and also found a community to have fun with.

Also looking at 10000s of pictures has given me some feeling for photography, I think. So I am happy here and I appreciate the interaction with other photographers.

I like many different types of photography. Portraits are great, but they usually require somebody willing to be photographed. Landscapes can be so impressive. Macro pghotography shows things, that are unusual to see that close. Sometimes, a photo is good for sharing something that one enjoys with the rest of the world, sometimes it is just for documenting something. I have taken many pictures for the wikimedia commons to contribute good pictures for Wikipedia.

I rather comment than favorite, sometimes my comments are pretty short, sometimes, they are pretty long. In the beginning, I have commented many pictures with "cool", probably, because I am using this word pretty often. But I have quite doing it, since I am not great at typing and when I have noticed, how close the f is to the c, I started worrying about making bad mistakes. So I have changed my one word comments to "nice". That means, I like that picture. I don't write "love", because it doesn't firt to my mentality. I love my family, but I don't love photos :-)))

Since I want to learn more about photography, I have taken part in a couple of workshops. Most were portrait workshops, some nude art, some about macro and some about HDR photography. All of them have been fun and I have enjoyed to meet other photographers.

My gear:

* two Nikon D90. I have decided, as long as I can#T make better pictures, than a D90 can make, a D90 with 8 MPixels is enough.

* A Tamron AF28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 XR DI VC LD Aspherical (IF) Macro. It has been broken and repaired and I think, now, it is close to the happy huntinggrounds of photography

* Tamron SP AF 60/2.0 Di II Macro. I have also used it for portrait photography and I had fun with it. I am also using some extention rings to get even closer.

* Tamron SP AF10-24mm F/3.5-4.5 Di II. A good wide angle lens is really important for me to have. I like this one.

* Sigma ART 50mm F1,4 DG HSM. My favorit! I would also like to have a 35mm Sigma Art.

* Sigma 10 mm F2,8 EX DC Fisheye HSM. Well, a fisheye is fun, but not really necessary

* Lensbaby Composer Pro. Such a tilt shift lens is a funny toy, but not more.

I also have some speedlights (Yongnuo) and light formers, but actually not the opporttunity to use them often. My tripod is an important part of photography gear, I carry it around very often and use it less and less :-))) My camera backpack is big and heavy, I also have a smaller one, but that is still heavy. I also have an even smaller one, which is enough for a camera plus an extra lens. It is ok for most purposes, except for showing off at photography workshops :-)))