I have been involved with photography since my school days when my father gave me a Kodak Brownie as my first camera. My first 35mm camera was a Mamiya Sekor 1000DTL, which I bought in high school.
I took photography in college, specializing in black and white, with eyes on becoming a photo-journalist. Life has many twists and turns, and I became a police officer in Northern California. I gave my father my faithful Mamiya to compliment the one he had, and purchased a Nikon F2. I used the Nikon while raising a family, but raising a family and paying for film processing and photo finishing aren’t mutually compatible. I settled for taking snapshots instead of focusing on the art.
Along came digital and I jumped right in, purchasing a Nikon D50, and fell in love with the new digital format. I could experiment at will, and not worry about the cost. As time wore on I found the D50 could not keep up with my experiments with low light shooting. So now I use a Nikon D300 with my primary lens, the Nikkor 18-200mm VR II.
I belong to the Vacaville Lightwriters Photography Club, the Napa Valley Photographic Society, and the Vacaville Art League. I have won many awards from the Lightwriters annual photo contest, and the Dixon May Fair photo contest, including a Best of Show for “Eye of the Storm” at the 2010 Lightwriters Photo Contest.
My style varies from subject to subject. As I like to tell my friends, I have ADD when it comes to photography. One minute I’m shooting at night, then next I’m shooting abstract, then landscape, and….well, you get the picture. If you like what you see please leave a comment. If you don’t like what you see, still leave a comment. I am learning as I go and love being critiqued as it helps me become a better photographer.
Contact me at philven@pacbell.net.