Newbie from Manfinitoba

[TNTDJ]

Hi Marko and everyone!

Well... I have had a dSLR for about 6-7 years and for most of it just muddled my way through. My highlight during that time was turning the dial to "A" and opening up the aperture to blur out the background!

Finally, I plowed through The Digital Photography Book, Volume 1 by the famous Scott Kelby. Woohoo!
Highly recommended... I'm presently on to volume 2.
As I was finishing up Vol 1, I realized I really needed to get some housework done! Marko's AUDIO-ONLY podcast is perfect!!!!!!!!!!!!
If I wanted to be using my eyes, they'd be in the viewfinder! (Or, hopefully, helping my wife with that housework!)

So I downloaded all the archives and started a marathon of listening to all the old Photography.ca podcasts- I've listened to about 70 in 3 days while I cleaned and did things around the house. (Okay maybe I was a bit of a zombie!)
So between Scott Kelby and you Marko, I'm REALLY learning a LOT!!!

I shoot my wife's artwork (Shelley Vanderbyl) and I like to shoot landscapes and anything else I can shoot ultra-wide! (I really appreciated the podcast on rust photography and I think it quite relates to my wife's work; her work is all about finding beauty in unexpected places too.)

Here's a photo I took of her artwork on black velvet; I think this was handheld without the benefit of a Macro lens!:


For gear, I've got:

• Camera / Lenses:
• -Sony A-200 (10.2 MP), and I shoot RAW
• -a kit zoom 18-70 3.5-5.8 and
• -the kit telephoto 75-300mm f4.5-5.6
• -I also have a nice nifty 50 (Minolta 1.7) that I found on kijiji and I use it a LOT. I wish I had a fast, super wide lens, I'd probably never take it off.
• Tripod (thanks Scott Kelby!):
• -XC525C carbon fibre tripod (kijiji)
• Accessories:
• polarizers, 5-in-1 reflector soon

Interests:
-I really love Sony's image-stabilized cameras and I'd never own an unstabilized body. Why pay for IS lenses when you can find old fun ones and adapt them?
-I'd really like to try making some swirly bokeh with the Helios 44-2.
-I'm super interested in upgrading to the new Sony A7II - image stabilization on full frame - awesome for hand-held wide shots. But oh the $$$!
-Looking forward to Lightroom 6; I am transitioning from Aperture and Lightroom is SO much better!

I appreciate all the teaching on flash and I think getting a Pixel FC-313/L off-camera flash cable and a flash off Kijiji will be one of my next additions.
I want to look into adapting non-Sony/Minolta flashes onto this setup. Do you know anything about adapting non-Minolta-style flashes Marko?
I think there is still room for a zero-to-hero podcast that covers how to get from "I've never touched an external flash" to "here's how to attach an external flash, use it to trigger peanut flashes which trigger a second flash, and then how to adjust them using the results on your LCD / histogram." (i.e. look for unwanted shadows.)

Well I hope that is a good introduction... a bit longwinded....
Here is a photo I took this morning as a reward; it's the first of my new endeavours to get more exercise and get some photos taken during the golden hour!

I'll be adding to: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tntdj/

THANK YOU FOR CREATING THIS COMMUNITY & ALL THE PODCASTS MARKO!

[Marko]

That's quite an introduction TNTDJ - thanks so much for joining and thanks for appreciating the podcasts!

Really nice image you posted and hope to see more.

and yup - I'm so due for a new podcast!

[Iguanasan]

Welcome to the forum, TNTDJ. That is a heck of an introduction! I look forward to seeing you fill up the forum and Flickr with some awesome images.