rick knight

Bio

One day in 2007, my wife Michelle said to me "I was thinking. Before the babies come, we should get a better camera". At this point in time, my wife was pregnant with our twins that were born in may of 2008. Their names are Alex, and Paige. Paige is about 2 hour older than Alex, and they have different birthdays because of the timing. Paige was born at 10:19pm on the ninth, and Alex at 12:32am on the tenth.

Back to the conversation about the camera. My wife wanted a better camera, that would take nice photos of our children, and also be capable of recording video. I was not opposed to it, and simply wanted to know "How much are you looking to spend?"
she said "I dunno, but I'd like to get something decent, maybe just a few hundred bucks?" and I said "Sure, look into it, and get something decent. I've heard that you want to go for optical zoom over digital zoom though, so make sure you mention that to the sales guy"

At that point in time, my involvement was finished. She bought a Canon S5 IS.

The camera, along with the bag she purchased, sat under an end table next to the couch for most of it's life. We had tried it a couple of times, and found the photos to be 'odd looking, with lots of colored pixel looking spots all over them', and so it sat, in it's bag, under the end table with the lamp on it.

Then I got my Iphone 4. I had always had an Iphone, since they were released back in '07, but the Iphone 4 has a new 5MP camera, with a bigger sensor than other camera phones.
I began taking lots of photos with it. I stopped bringing my work camera with me, as this new cellphone was much more convenient, and took totally acceptable photos. I discovered a few photo apps that allowed me to edit my photos, take black and whites, and a great many other things. It felt good, is all I can say about the photos I was taking. I had gotten several compliments about them from my friends, family, and people on Facebook.

I decided that I was going to bust out the Canon that was still living it's life under the end table next to the couch with the lamp on it. It was a good idea. On a nice sunny day in the summer, I went out to the back yard, where my wife and kids were playing with the kiddie pool, and I started taking photos. The pictures were so crisp and clear, that I decided to go online, and look more into this whole picture taking thing.

I began using only Manual mode, and getting acquainted with things like, meters, and histograms, etc..

Within a few weeks, I had acquired my sister's Nikon D40, with 2 lenses, some filters, and a case. I was happy to have a DLSR, but was keenly aware that it wasn't as good as the ones I had been thinking about buying. I started researching the camera, and found a flickr page belonging to Drewshoots. He uses the same camera that I use, but he takes amazing photos. The discovery helped me a lot, because I no longer felt the need to run out and get a top of the line DSLR camera, thinking that it would improve my photography. It may make it easier, and have more resolution, it might even have a built in AF motor. but the fact is, I currently still shoot primarily in Manual mode, and focus manually as well.

Discovering Flickr, and it's groups was a great thing for me. I like the artistic aspect of photography, and find that's where the fun is. I would Love to have more gear, and start making money with my photos, but honestly, I just have no idea how to go about doing that. Microstock sights don't seem like something I'd be very interested in, but who knows what the future holds?

Finding Utata was refreshing for me. I like all the projects, and discussions. The people add a lot the experience in my opinion. I think I'm going to like it here.