Introduce yourself to the NPN community!

[Dan_McCarthy]

Hello everyone!

My name is Dan McCarthy. I’m just starting out in my photography journey, and I’ve been looking for a place for constructive critique, community, and general photography knowledge. I found this site after hearing about it on the F-Stop, Collaborate and Listen podcast.

My introduction to photography came in the late 80’s when, at the age of 16 my grandparents took me on a summer trip where we visited Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe and up and down the California coast. With no instruction of any kind, no “real” camera - nothing but an unlimited supply of disposable cameras and drug store processing - I wanted to document our trip.

Yosemite was our first stop, and I was done for. I spent the week immersing myself in nature and everything Ansel Adams and John Muir.

Fast forward a bit to one year out of high school… I’d purchased a Ricoh Super-5 KR2 and enrolled in some photography courses at the local 2 year college on Long Island NY where I grew up. I was all in. Composition, exposure, darkroom development and processing… It was great. I spent all of my free time exploring local parks experimenting, shooting and exploring.

And then, for some reason I just dont remember, I stopped. The camera was packed up. I stopped shooting. If I picked up a camera at all, it was for family snapshots. To this day, I have no idea what happened.

This July, my wife and I spent a week in historic St. Augustine, FL. I had recently upgraded my phone from an outdated junker with a terrible (even for a phone) camera to a more modern phone with a camera that is capable of at least taking decent images. I found myself shooting throughout our vacation and once again, I was hooked.

We returned from vacation and one of the first things I did was get us a his and hers pair of cameras- Canon T6i’s. For the money, I felt that it would be a good starting place.

So here I am, with my entry level camera,and my kit lens, trying to make images that I would be proud to share.

I’m now based in Ocala, in North Central Florida. There are no “epic landscapes” here, but there are a multitude of lakes, rivers, wetlands and forests to explore. They lend themselves very well to the more intimate landscape scenes that I enjoy.

I aim to become a member of the community here, learn from those with far more experience than myself and continue to explore my creativity through photography.

[Jose_A_Feliciano]

Hi all, my name is Jose and I’m based in Denver, Colorado. I’m originally from Puerto Rico and work brought me to Colorado. Before moving here I use to take photos whenever I went out hiking or camping but never in a serious or thoughtful manner. Hiking in the Colorado mountains got me into wanting to get better at taking photos in order to do justice to the landscape (the classical: this photo doesn’t do justice to this place). For the past two years I’ve been learning a lot and getting better at photographing and creating images that I’m good with. I’m an engineer by training and do photography as a hobby. Mostly take the photos for myself and to push me to go to new places and explore more. As a consequences this have a great amount of photos that have never edited and always tell myself that one day I’ll be able to process them all. I knew a little bit about the old NPN but never got to take advantage of it at all until heard from Matt’s podcast about he re-lunching of it and thought that it will be great to join this community.
Hope to meet some of you soon.

[Monte_Trumbull]

Hi everyone. I am a full-time nature photographer based in south central Colorado. I have been around here a while. I joined the original NPN back in 2004 and when I moved to Colorado in 2006, it was how I met so many of my current photographer friends and acquaintances. It was a great resource to learn about new locations, new techniques, and current conditions. I am excited to be part of the new NPN and am looking forward to a community like we had before. Thanks David and Jennifer!

I grew up and worked in Iowa until moving to Colorado in 2006. I have always had a passion for the outdoors. Growing up, I spent most of my time outside, much of it with a fly rod in my hand. My fishing took me to beautiful ponds, gentle streams, and roaring rivers in gorgeous locations. Over the years, I came to realize that what I loved most about fishing was the connection with nature that it provided. I started carrying a camera with me to capture the beauty that surrounded me, so I could share it with others. One thing led to another and soon I found myself devoting most of my time to photography.

I love immersing myself in nature’s beauty and capturing special moments for others to witness through my images. I enjoy studying the colors, patterns, and shapes found in a natural scene and arranging them in a way that invites the viewer to step into an image. I strive to create images that allow the viewer to feel as if they were standing beside me the moment the shutter was tripped.

I am more of a technical person than an artistic one. I feel comfortable with technology and use it to my best advantage. After capturing that perfect scene in the field, I will spend hours processing on the computer to create a final compelling image that speaks of the moment it was captured.

You can check out my work at https://www.montetrumbull.com.

[Tom_Ingram]

Hello Everyone, I have just joined NPN community and look forward to learning from all of your experience and gaining inspiration from your photos. I was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and have always had a passion for nature and conservation. From 2007 - 2010 I had the opportunity to live in India with my wife and kids via the tech company I worked for. Although I have always been interested in photography I purchased a Nikon D300S and got hooked on bird photography while living in India. Returning back to the Bay Area in 2010, I picked up my first digital pro body (Nikon D4 and 500mm f/4) and spent the next few years improving my bird photography skills.

Two years ago my wife took a job in Morristown NJ and I decided to step away from my tech job which has enabled me time to travel more and spend more time on my photography. I currently split my time between SF Bay Area and Morristown. I have recently started doing more nature, landscape, astrophotography and cityscapes. I have found that breaking out of my comfort zone attempting different forms of photography has really helped improve my skills.

I hope to be an active member both sharing photos for critique and sharing knowledge that I have learned over the years. Most of all look forward to expanding my photography community. I also enjoy meeting those in the field that I have communicated with and followed on social media…putting face with a name and making new friends.

[Dan_Kearl]

Hello all, I have posted at NPN for a few years, I like the new site.
I live in the Portland, Oregon. I just like photography period. I shot film years ago and
jumped into the digital age.
I was mostly into Bird photography on the another website for several years and still enjoy bird and wildlife photography when I get the chance but no longer chase it.
The Northwest is just such a natural landscape area it is fairly easy to get to pretty epic locations or I can just shoot in the beautiful Portland neighborhoods.
I am an avid cyclist, which helps to find locations that most people who travel in cars miss.
I also enjoy commenting here, I think that viewing and critiquing others makes me a lot better photographer.

[Greg_Giesing]

Just happened on this site and I think I recognize a few names from another site. So I thought I would try it out as I believe one of the best ways to improve is to have someone better critique my work.

My formal photography began in the Navy where it centered mainly around aerial reconnaissance . Once discharged I found the small nitch of aerial photography to support topographic mapping. I stayed with that for 35 years and gained experience in all aspects of the business.

Of course the early years was all hand processed including 500 foot rolls of 9 1/2 inch color film. there was a lot to learn for sure. There were thousands of prints to be made and all by hand. The term “leave it in the soup it till it looks good” had real meaning.

eventually everything turned to digital and large format digital took on new challenges.

Eventually the price of hardware and software came down and I luckily got the itch to start my own business in mapping. I was in business with another for 10 years and retired.

All those years I kept my hands in photography but once I had my own business I could finally afford those really nice lenses and cameras. I had a few friends in the same hobby and we all liked the challenge of taking birds in flight but I think I was the only one that eventually added closeup and macro to my goals.

I currently reside in the mid southern Tennessee and coordinate a small group of photographers that are in the art council.

Feel free to ask if you have any questions.

[Tom_Wylie]

Hi my name is Tom. I have only lived in various parts of British Isles.

I picked up a camera to use it as a creative/documentary tool at about 12 years old, it was a Zenit E, and I carried it into the ‘feral spaces’.

Four decades later and I am still doing it (with a succession of different cameras/brands) because it stops me looking and let’s me see.

I joined NPN in 2003 and was the UK NPN forum moderator for 10 years.

T

[Jacob_Buchowski]

Hi everyone,

I first became a member of NPN in 2004 and I’m excited to see the new version of the website.

I initially began my photographic journey as a distraction from work in 2004. Soon – probably like most of us here – I became obsessed with photography and have since then spent more and more time taking photographs of landscapes and to some degree cityscapes and people. Although I live in St. Louis, Missouri, I travel to the southwest United States two to three times a year as I’m drawn to the warm golden light, the dramatic skies, and the out-of-this-world geologic formations so common to the area.

It’s great to be here and I look forward to being a part of the revived NPN community!

[Adam_Bolyard]

Hi all,

I was really happy to find NPN after hearing the recent F/Stop, Collaborate, and Listen episode. I’ve been looking for a better online photography community than what you can find on IG, etc. It’s great that the community has been resurrected, and I’m looking forward to seeing it develop again.

Photography has been a hobby to some extent since taking a black and white film class to fill a couple of credits in college about 10 years ago. I later bought my first DSLR, mostly to shoot family photos and on trips. About 18 months ago on a trip to Alberta, I found inspiration in landscape photography, and it quickly became an extension of our hiking trips. A new baby and a new hobby don’t really jive with each other, but all of the extra time I had awake with the her at night was great for learning about photography.

Living in the Ozarks (southwestern Missouri, USA), I don’t have access to many grand expansive landscapes to shoot. But we have a lot of water—creeks, streams, rivers, and some lakes—and great woodland that can make for interesting scenes. Out of necessity, I guess I’m drawn to intimate landscapes though I do love a grand landscape as much as any one.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to being a part of the community here on NPN. Cheers.

Adam

[Bill_Fach]

Hello old friends and new folks. I’m one of the graybeards at NPN having been a member since 2001 and a moderator since 2006. I am pretty much self taught as a photographer and have learned much of my craft through NPN. My great love is landscape photography but I think that is as much a love of the places we’ve been blessed to visit as much as the image making. My wife Christine is a master gardener so probably 90% of my Flora and Macro shots come from our own garden and yard. I grew up photographically shooting slides so to this day the capture of the image in a single frame is my most enjoyable challenge. I do envy those who can do magic in processing but prefer to be looking through the viewfinder more than looking at a computer screen.
I’m a practicing Optometric Physician in Houston, Texas. Chrissy and I have four grown sons, four terrific daughters in law, sixteen grandkids and two cats. My other major non-professional pursuit is as a volunteer chaplain in the Texas prison system. I see the hand of the Lord in every shot I take and count it a blessing to be able to share my view of His world through my photography. Soli Deo Gloria - To God Alone Be The Glory. >=))>

[Michael_McGee]

Hi all,

I’m Michael, I live in Wellington New Zealand. I believe I’m one of only two from NZ in here (so far). I’m 22, younger than a lot of you here and I’ve been doing photography for about three years. I’ve very recently finished my degree in Creative Media from Massey. In my last semester there I took three photography papers which I really enjoyed, this for me affirmed that this was a direction I want to take in my life and something I want to pursue for a long time.

As you can guess by my age, I wasn’t around when NPN was in its heyday but I’ve heard a lot of things about how great it was so when I listened to @Matt_Payne’s podcast on NPN’s revival, I hopped right on over here.

I have recently opened a photography business under my name which I plan to grow and develop over the next years. I plan to shoot commercial photography for businesses and organisations and in the future, possibly environmental portraits. I also plan to sell prints.
I work as a teacher aide at a local primary school to keep myself afloat while I transition to full time photography.

I really really like the idea of this community and believe it is much needed in the age of social media so I plan to be quite active here.
As there’s only a few of us here from NZ, if anyone’s got any questions or is planning to travel here for photography, I would love to try answer any questions you have!

Website
instagram

[Duncan_Beard]

Hey y’all,

My name is Duncan Beard and I like to take pictures of wildlife, but I also dabble in landscapes so I tend to just call myself a nature photographer. I’m based out of Houston, TX (not the best place for a budding wildlife photographer, I know but it’s where the fiancée is located) currently. I’m 26 years old and have been shooting since I bought my camera in 2016. I have a bachelor’s degree in “Film and Digital Media” that I got with the intent of doing video production but have since fallen in love with photography as a whole and more specifically the nature aspect of it.

I was actually told about this site by @Michael_McGee above me, as I help moderate a photography based chatroom that he is a part of.

Overall, I’m looking forward to getting to know you all and build some photographic relationships on this site.

You can check out my work on my instagram!

[Chris_Mitchell]

Hi all. I’m Chris and have been enjoying photography for just under a year now. I’m hopelessly hooked! I primarily shoot landscapes. Everything about it appeals to me; the planning, the execution, the zen like mindfulness you reach when in the field next to a beautiful lake or outdoor scene. The satisfaction when everything comes together and the post processing geek-ery back at home.

I live on the cusp of the English lake district and a stones throw away from the coast which means I’m both really lucky and spoiled for location choices.

I really want to improve in composition and post processing, particularly using photoshop rather than lightroom.

Glad to be here and eager to learn.

Kind regards
Chris Mitchell

[Chris_Mitchell]

Another UK photographer here. I love snowdonia (used to live on Anglesey just over the water) and spent lots of time in the mountains and places like Llanberis (Pete’s Eats? )

[Daryl_Lee]

Greetings!

I am an old-enough-to-retire-but-won’t software engineer who recently discovered photography as an art form. I live in the High Desert of Albuquerque, where I will never starve for subject matter. This site was recommended to me as a great place to get “cordial, honest” review of my photography, which I believe is what I need the most right now.

I bought my first camera (Yashica SLR) in 1968 at a pawn shop, chosen because it was cheap, looked like a serious camera, and it was heavy, so it must be good, right? I “took pictures” until about 1985 or so, and dropped out of photography for reasons I can’t remember. Then in 2013 my wife and I started traveling, and I started “taking pictures” again. This time, something was different, and I decided photography as artistic expression was actually appealing to me. Now I’m trying to absorb as much as I can as quickly as I can. I’m looking forward to being part of a mutually helpful community.

[Keith_Bauer]

Welcome aboard!

[Steve_Fleagle]

Hello everyone,

I’m Steve Fleagle and a have a growing interest in landscape and wildlife photography. Much earlier in my life, some 30 years ago, I worked as a part time photographer during college (all film based) then drifted away from it and got serious again photographing my kids in sports during high school and college. I’ve gradually gotten interested in landscape and wildlife photography and am still new to that area. My IT job keeps my inside most of the time, so I love exploring the local landscape. I love to travel and photography has now become a key part of any trip. Being located in the Midwest (Iowa City, IA) means I sometimes have to work a little harder to find interesting photographs but the challenge amplifies the reward when I get something I like. Looking through the site I’m in awe of the great work I see here. I’m looking forward to learning, getting feedback, and contributing where I can.

Steve

[Andre_Donawa]

Hi everyone.

I’m a photographer from Barbados. I got my first dslr about 6 years ago and I’m still just as excited to head out into nature and see what we can create. My main passions at the moment are landscape, seascape and wave photography. I like abstracts and pretty much anything to do with the ocean. I’m also a musician and a surfer and I think both of these have a big influence on my creations.

[Kevin_D_Jordan]

Hello everyone!

My name is Kevin and I’ve been shooting landscapes one way or another since about 2011. Like many here, what started as just a creative outlet has grown to also be a passion and a side job. I heard about NPN through @Matt_Payne 's podcast and I’m really looking forward to some valuable interaction that has always been much harder to find on social media (which I’ve been largely trying to get away from as much as possible anyway).

I’m currently living just outside of Boston, MA working full-time as an environmental scientist, shooting photos on the side whenever time allows. My interests are all thing nature and landscapes, but my main passion is shots of the night sky whenever my schedule, moon phases, and weather forecasts decide to cooperate.

Looking forward to interacting with everyone, helping out others as I’m able, and learning as much as possible!

-Kevin

[Matt_Payne]

Hey Kevin! Welcome to NPN, glad you found us! I look forward to seeing your images here.