I'll skip the uninteresting details about where I was born and such. Maybe if you're lucky, I'll find my "All About Me" article I wrote in third grade and post that up here. But my first interaction with a camera was with the old school flashes on my Mom's camera. They were the single use kind and I remember putting them on the camera just to make them go off.

Anyways, I first got my own camera sometime in high school and it was one of those APS cameras. Then I traded someone along the way for their Canon Elph (whoever would have thought that I owned Canon before Nikon). While living in Spain, I purchased my first SLR: Nikon F80 (in the USA they were called the N80). It was a great deal since the dollar was doing great against the peseta. I later sold it some three years later for about the same price I bought it for.

Being a technological kind of guy, I couldn't resist the switch to digital and quickly sold my F80 for a Nikon D70 when they were only a few months old. I had been in a car accident four months before and when it settled, I decided I needed a reward. The D70 is a great camera, but I sold it a year or so later to Chuck shortly after the announcement of the Nikon D200.

It was a difficult time because I was about to get married and I knew I wanted to get that camera. Anyone that's been married knows the financial difficulties. Well luckily, I had made a substantial amount of money that year and although broke at the time of our wedding (for real I didn't even have more than $200 in the bank), I got a substantial tax return and purchased the Nikon D200. I almost went crazy waiting for the tax return (I went three months or so without anything other than a point and shot). But it is a wonderful camera and I've loved shooting with it and really don't see anyway I'd replace it in the next five years.

Along with it, I also purchased the Nikkor 18-200mm lens which is great. I don't think I've removed it from the body since the day I put it on. I want to get the Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 and the Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 (and maybe the 12-24mm f/4), but they are all quite pricey and I am still a student. In addition, I have a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 and the SB600 flash. I have two Lowepro bags and a Dell 700m laptop with Photoshop. I have two external hard drives for backup (I should probably get a portable one, but I don't travel enough). I also could use more compact flash, but everything with time. But I love my setup and I will probably be fine with everything I have for quite some time.

Rereading this much later, I realize it might sound like I care so much about the equipment that I have. Now I do appreciate a good camera, but it is really about taking good pictures. Most of my favorite pictures were taken with my D70. And besides, that is the whole point of this site, to share photos. In all reality, I wish I had more time to take pictures, but soon I will no longer be a student and able to enjoy my hobbies more. Then there will be more travelling too I hope:)

On a more historical me note, I was born in Washington, but really grew up in Roseville, CA. I come from a wonderful family and there are links to most of them on the home page.I graduated from the prestigious Woodcreek High School (k, its not prestigious at all, but who knows, it might one day:) and then attended Brigham Young University. I served a two year mission for my Church in Madrid Spain in the middle of my collegiate studies. I graduated with a degree in Computer Engineering and then went to study at Georgia Tech. In the middle of my Masters, I got married to the beautiful Ashley you can see pictured on the side (props to Spencer Kellis for the great job on the engagement photos). She also takes photos and has a Nikon D70s. Anywho, I'll complete my Masters in December and then find a job. I've worked during the breaks from school for Micron Technology Inc. who makes CMOS imagers. So, I know a bit about the technical side, but I hope my photos are still artistic (I've read countless articles that say why engineers and such can't be good photographers or anything artistic or things along those lines).

While I'm at it, I better give credit to Gema for the shot above. I was taking a picture of a lighthouse in Spain while there visiting again.