Hello from Western Kansas

Chibamonkey · Feb 11, 2008

I would like to introduce myself. I used to shoot a little film in my younger days (high school, college, and after), mainly outdoors while climbing, backpacking, and hunting. Still have all of my old Pentax film gear. Got into photography through my mother, who is an avid semi-pro since the late 70's.

Anyway, long story short.....marriage, career, children cut short my time w/ cameras. Have had several p&s digitals over the last 8 years....for the quick family stuff, and for work.

Work, teaching, and family pretty much drove my decision to get back into photography, but it was one event that drove me to pursue photography again.

Due to my job as an EMS Supervisor, I was on the ground in Greensburg, Kansas approximately 2 hours after the F5 tornado leveled pretty much the entire community last May. I was there with two teams from our department to assist in early SAR ops. And all I have is memories of that event. Not a single person from our teams took pics. This was an educational opportunity that was completely wasted.

Since then, bought a K10D Pentax w/ a Pentax 18-55mm, and a Tamron 70-300mm. My primary purpose is to document incidents, events, procedures for EMS educational experiences, and to shoot the kids in their activities. Now, I have the pixel bug way worse than I did back when I started in 1978 and caught the tri-x virus. Still dusting off my memory, relearning what I forgot, and learning what I don't know....and loving every minute of it!!!!!

Anyway....got a little long-winded. Thank you, everyone, for letting me be part of your forum - Jeff L.