<p>Hello. I'm never sure what to say on these intro posts. I'm Eric. I'm pretty much new in the digital photography forums, but something of a lurker in reviewing Canon digital cameras, lenses, bags, tripods, and other photo equipment. I got into film photography in the late 1980s, early 1990s, with the purchase of Canon AE-1 Program, A-1, and the T90 SLR film cameras, a number of FD lenses from Tokina and Sigma, and learning black-and-white film developing and darkroom work. There is a magic in watching an image slowly appear on a white sheet of paper, immersed in developer--and you can never forget the smell of fixer solution in a darkroom lab! I took some college classes in photography, and even took a couple of college photojournalism classes. I never really leveraged that knowledge into a photojournalism career. <br>
Of course, film photography started getting expensive with the purchase and processing of film and prints. And the Canon FD equipment I was acquiring was becoming obsolete with the new autofocus EOS film SLR line--soon to become obsolete with the even newer EOS digital SLR line. I sort of left my photography hobby for a while, as I did not have the money to rebuild an autofocus SLR system for film, and then digital. I'd pull my film equipment out to shoot some pictures now and then, but it was getting harder to justify the time and cost of film work. It was also getting harder to find labs to process film. <br>
Two years ago, I finally decided to take the plunge into digital SLR photography. I had a chance to play with my brother's Nikon D80 SLR camera, and my friend's Canon 40D camera for a while, and thoroughly loved both cameras. I went on eBay, and found a bid for a Canon 40D camera body at the right price, and purchased it. Since then, I've been slowly building a Canon EF body and lens collection. I'm looking at building a collection of prime and zoom lenses that I can select for my needs. With my FD equipment, I've shot some photojournalism, sports-action, flowers, landscapes, night photography, and street photography. Right now, I'm shooting flowers, nature, and my pet chickens. I'm not as familiar with the digital post-processing, but I should be able to learn it quickly enough. My shooting style is pretty much fast, hand-held style. I usually set my cameras into a program mode, and then click away in a quick-and-dirty method. I think I came to that style from my college photojournalism classes. <br>
At the moment, I work in the information technology field, in San Jose, California. My current interests now are photography, political science, and raising backyard chickens. Makes me wonder if I can combine the three into a new hobby. It is a pleasure to be here.</p>
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