A lot of my galleries are unlisted or password protected. For unlisted galleries you will need to double-click on the actual URL for each gallery, or paste it into your web browser. For password protected galleries, there is hint included, which hopefully will remind those who have already received the password. Please email me if you do not have the needed URL(s) or password(s).

I began shooting photos in the late 1950's at age 10, with a Kodak box-style "Brownie" camera (the reflex type where you looked down into the top of the camera). Nowadays, trying out different B&W film emulations in Adobe Lightroom's Develop Presets, has shed some light on why I took a whole lot of boring non-descript photos with Panatomic-X film, even with a snap-on yellow filter!

I had two very special teachers in those early years: Brett Weston and Gus Bundy. They were wonderfully creative people, and I'd like to think that some of that magic, in being able to capture extraordinary images, really comes from them. My dad was also very interested in photography, and in his earlier years, he had bulk-loaded his Leica with 35mm movie film. Finally my uncle Jay was a principal in a camera store in Santa Barbara and also enthralled with photography. Several of the family cameras came from Jay's shop, including my stepfather Jan's Nikon F, which I still have.

My next camera was a 1956 Leica IIIg, with an f/2.8 lens that you had to pull out and twist to the right. It had been my mother's and she passed it on to me, when my stepfather Jan got his Nikon F, and I headed off to boarding school. In April 2008, I attended the 50th anniversary of the founding of Dunn School, in Los Olivos, California — where I had attended 7th through 12th grade. There were a lot of excellent teachers there, including the founder, Anthony B. Dunn, who continues to have an impact on my creative work, some 43 years later. Pictures from the 50th anniversary celebration are available under the Events menu, as an password protected gallery.

In the 1970's, as my kids came on the scene, I stepped up to a Minolota SRT-101 (and later an SRT-102 second body to handle B W film or another lens). Single-lens reflex made all the difference! No more parallax problems! I never did set up that dream dark room, and zoom lenses were way too expensive, but I still had tons of fun. My 5 kids provided excellent subjects, as they, and now their kids, continue to do so today! (It's funny: I hadn't been thinking of myself as a people photographer, but after two family reunions, my vision has broadened here.)

Fast forward to 1996 — I'd been away from photography for quite a while, and a vacation to California was looming — a Canon Sureshot 80 Tele film camera filled the bill. I would be shooting with this camera for 8 years (including a trip to Singapore, Nepal & Tibet in Spring 2001). Another great camera! Like they say: "The best camera in the world is the one you have with you!"

In June 2004, a visit to the local Apple store convinced me it was time to go digital. My wife already had a Nikon Coolpix 4300, but I wanted something pocket-sized to take with me everywhere, and take advantage of that digital "no film". I settled on a Casio EZ-340, a 4 megapixel camera with Pentax optics. I'd actually seen the Pentax cousin of this camera at MacWorld and had greatly admired it. I've shot several thousand pictures with the Casio, and thoroughly enjoy this camera, and continue to use it as a pocket camera today, for occasional shots, especially out of the car.

The challenge arose when I found the need for higher resolution pictures, especially low-light situations where flash wasn't appropriate, or generally where my Casio point 'n shoot didn't have enough umpf... During a visit to Muir Woods in 2006, my son Tim began extolling the virtues of digital SLRs, using new words, like "RAW" and "white balance". My interest was piqued, and for this, I'm truly grateful to him.

In December 2006, a colleague brought a new Nikon D80 back to the office for the rest of us to look at. Needless to say, I was entranced. Another colleague also purchased a D80, but I finally decided on the D50 a couple of weeks later. Price and size were the main factors. I wasn't ready to fill up my hard drive(s) any faster than necessary, and 6 megapixels seemed like enough. Some day, perhaps, a D80 might be added, but at that time I was fine with the D50.

By the way, I'm fine with Canons, too. My son Tim and several old & good friends are Canon shooters. They suggested a Canon SLR, but my wife already had a Nikon N65 film camera at home with two lenses, so I decided to stay with Nikon to share those lenses.

For most of 2007, I shot primarily with the Nikon D50 with a Tamron 28-200mm and a Nikkor 50mm prime lens. I also used my wife's Tamron 70-300mm and the N65's 28-80mm kit lens, and occasionally rented other lenses and equipment, as needed for shoots. Finally I had access the zoom lenses I'd once only dreamed of, and that dream darkroom went digital with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, beginning with its public beta. I'd been using Apple's iPhoto previously, and didn't yet have a CPU capable of running Apple's Aperture. Today I'm using a 24" iMac at home, and also have Aperture. I still tend to mostly use Lightroom though, since I'm more familiar with its tools. I working on learning Aperture...

In October 2007, I had the opportunity to purchase a friend's Nikon D80 with the vertical grip. I've been very happy with this camera. Like David Pogue says, "We don't buy film anymore; we buy hard drives, instead." My wife Sue is shooting with the D50 now, and it's available as a backup camera for my event shoots, if needed.

Please enjoy my galleries!

- Chris