Greetings from West Virginia

Greetings! Although new to this forum, I have been an amateur photographer for over 30 years. The birth of our first child and being stationed in Alaska were two good reasons to pick up the hobby. I started out with a 35mm Nikon 8008s. Great camera, and I had it out shooting even at 20 below (F). I went digital while we were in Europe (2000-2003) and mostly used easy-to-carry cameras out of necessity.

A couple of years ago, I got a Nikon D7200 for myself and D3100 for my wife. As much as I liked the D7200, it was too heavy for my shoulder and arm after two surgeries. I found myself using the D3100 (and our Coolpix L830) most of the time, so I just sold the D7200. I think the D3100 will do 95% of what I want it to, and it's much easier to carry.

I retired in 2005 after 20 years in the US Air Force. The first 16 years, I was a pianist in the Air Force Bands (hence the "pianoman West Virginia" name). Because of hearing loss, I cross-trained and finished the last 4 years as a paralegal and Law Office Manager. Now, I am the church organist/pianist in the university town where I met my wife 35 years ago. Life has come full circle.

I have another hobby - our family website. http://www.michaelelyard.com/ Please check out the Family, Motorcycles, and Travel/Europe pages. My 50 favorite photos from Alaska are posted here: http://www.michaelelyard.com/BestOfAlaskaTop50.htm

Unfortunately, many of our Europe photos were taken on a first-generation "affordable" digital with pretty low resolution. And all of my Alaska slides and negatives were scanned on an Epson V500.

I am looking forward to exploring this forum and learning more about photography. At some point, I may even be able to share some little tidbits of wisdom I picked up along the way.

Thanks for letting me join in.

Mike

Hello and welcome.

I have been viewing your contributions in No Words. I traveled around a relatively large area of Alaska in 2018 and had a wow of a time. Also I have a particular interest in WWII, so your old images related to that war are of interest to me, no matter the technical quality.

Enjoy your membership here and have fun.

WW

Enjoy your membership here and have fun

Well... it seems that you're having fun, if your involvement in the No Words Forum is an indication of having fun - your contributions are both prolific and interesting.

Fantastic.

WW

Well... it seems that you're having fun, if your involvement in the No Words Forum is an indication of having fun - your contributions are both prolific and interesting.

 

Fantastic.

 

WW

Thank you. I've been enjoying looking through the No Words thread in particular, and am starting to explore other areas of the forum. Glad I found it.

Thank you. I've been enjoying looking through the No Words thread in particular, and am starting to explore other areas of the forum. Glad I found it.

Welcome Michael. I wish you many years with us enjoying your experience.