I got my Nikon D70S as a Christmas present in 2006 - my family has ALWAYS been one of those photo families where there are photos everywhere and my sister is semi-professional. And we've only had Nikons so that's what I am sort of familiar with.
I am in the horse world as my hobby/past time - I've been to more horse shows than I can count and I've always been interested in the "in ring" or paid photographer in the middle of the ring. In my horse world, 8X10's start at $50 and while some of them are outstanding - some are equally as deplorable. I just can't justify paying $50 for, well, crap. I pay enough for my horse to be at the show, I'm not going to waste my money buying subpar photos.
I started playing with photographing the show horses in my own barn (never intending, and still don't, to go commercial/professional) I was seeing what the other customers were paying for photos that were not worth it. So I decided to give it a try. I knew in my mind what I wanted to capture in our horses - the nuances, the presence, the athleticism of my breed - the intensity of the competition. I spent an entire year just on timing and cadence of the horses' rhythm. It's starting to pay off - now I am having a blast with it and the sugar on top is that people have asked to buy my photos - again it was never my intent to sell them, only to shoot the horses as a challenge to myself.
I love it - I just bought a new f/2.8 80-200mm Nikkor lens and I get to try it for the first time tomorrow - yippee!!! Best of all I am headed to Kansas City in November to spend 4 days with my photography mentor and icon in horse world of photographers - I can't wait!!! I am now considering a move up in the body of my camera - maybe the D90 or 300 series? I'm not sure.
Sorry, a little long winded but that's why I got my camera
