ProCaliberTraveler
Well-Known Member
My photography journey began in Cherbourg, France in 2016-17. One of the stipulations of a long-stay visitor visa to France was that I couldn't have a paying job, so I spent my time in Normandy studying French, writing, and learning photography. My parents lent me their Pentax K30 DSLR, so I grew intimately familiar with this camera while taking thousands upon thousands of poor images. I attended some local photography club meetings where I learned about the delightful street photography of Vivian Meier.
After returning to my hometown in California and while searching for an actual paid job, I experimented mainly with landscape photography. The Pentax K30 was stolen from my car in San Francisco one day, so I replaced it with a Nikon D3500 which I still use to this day. For a short time I lived in Marin County north of San Francisco where I had more opportunities to attend photography club meetings, listen to guest presenters and view their work, and hone my own skills with a camera.
These days I live and work in Bishop, CA for the state department of transportation. This job allows me to go into the field, nearly whenever I want, to visit road construction projects where I'll film and photograph all types of construction machines that make the ground rumble underfoot. Or, in the winter I'll go into the mountains to document snow removal from U.S. 395, avalanche mitigation, rock blasting from Tioga Pass, the aftermath of flash flooding, or whatever else you can think of that affects a highway. After nearly 6 years of this, I've accumulated a fair number of images from various projects and events, some of which are printed and framed in the main hallway at work.
And, of course, there aren't many better places for landscape photography than the Owens Valley and Eastern Sierra. But I do tend to travel far and wide with landscape photography in mind. I joined Focalworld in 2022 after meeting Jim Fox during a spectacular sunset on the shores of Mono Lake.
After returning to my hometown in California and while searching for an actual paid job, I experimented mainly with landscape photography. The Pentax K30 was stolen from my car in San Francisco one day, so I replaced it with a Nikon D3500 which I still use to this day. For a short time I lived in Marin County north of San Francisco where I had more opportunities to attend photography club meetings, listen to guest presenters and view their work, and hone my own skills with a camera.
These days I live and work in Bishop, CA for the state department of transportation. This job allows me to go into the field, nearly whenever I want, to visit road construction projects where I'll film and photograph all types of construction machines that make the ground rumble underfoot. Or, in the winter I'll go into the mountains to document snow removal from U.S. 395, avalanche mitigation, rock blasting from Tioga Pass, the aftermath of flash flooding, or whatever else you can think of that affects a highway. After nearly 6 years of this, I've accumulated a fair number of images from various projects and events, some of which are printed and framed in the main hallway at work.
And, of course, there aren't many better places for landscape photography than the Owens Valley and Eastern Sierra. But I do tend to travel far and wide with landscape photography in mind. I joined Focalworld in 2022 after meeting Jim Fox during a spectacular sunset on the shores of Mono Lake.
