Hi. My name is Troy and I live in a town called Normal right smack in the middle of Illinois. I pretty much know zero about photography, but a month ago when I walked by the EPL1 display at Best Buy I knew I wanted that camera. So i bought it on the spot and then went back for the 40-150 lens. A week later I ordered VF2 and the Lumix 20MM lens. I have 2 kids , 2 dogs, 2 salt water aquariums, 3 planted freshwater aquariums ,and 2 ponds full of fish. Plus, the town bought the park behind my house and turned it into a nature sanctuary so there are many hawks and owls that roam there and I want to start getting some good shots and video of all of it. I also do woodturning and weld some metal art pieces and I have never been happy with any of the photos I have taken of the things I make.I was using and old P+S camera so I hope with some new focus on photography that I will be able to do better at displaying my work. I have already picked up a ton of good info from lurking around here.
Chairman Kaga, a big thank you to you and welcome from me, here in New York, to you out there in Normal, Illinois! I am really looking forward to seeing your photographs, Chairman and boy are you lucky about the town buying the property behind your house for a nature preserve! There are members here from so many different walks of life, cultures, countries and levels of photographic experience - so really everyone should feel right at home. If you haven't checked out the Image Works forum yet, I strongly urge you to do so because it is full of extremely valuable threads from the all important technical basics to aesthetics and more. Be sure to see the "sticky thread": A primer on Aperture, f stops, ISO and EV compensation. Image Works is a "members only" forum...so, of course, non members don't know what they're missing. In addition to the helpful threads, it is The Place for asking for hands on or written help with one's photographs. Glad to have you here, Chairman Kaga!
Hello Troy, Welcome aboard! So you're a turner... I handle IT for the The Woodworking Shows and run into lots of turners... thankfully not while they're turning. Cheers, from New England
