Hi everyone! I'm Erik Black, Rebecca's cousin. I'm a computer technician by trade and turning into a photo geek. I've always been interested in photography (particularly nature photography), but I started getting into it more when I purchased my first digital SLR. The big change for me was that I didn't have all the film developing hassles (running it to the store, paying for it, picking it up) and didn't have to wait to finish a roll to get feedback on a shot I had attempted. I definitely fall into the hobbyist category and tend toward point and shoot for my daytime photography, but I'm picking things up here and there as I go along. My 35mm SLR is a Canon EOS Rebel, so I have stuck with Canon cameras so I could interchange lenses. My first digital SLR was a Digital Rebel, and I'm now shooting with a Rebel XTi. I really like some of my pictures, but most just fall into the "all right" category. I'm picking up a bit at a time, but need help on both technical and composition issues, so welcome feedback.
On the personal side, I was born in Kansas City, Kansas and moved around until I was about 8 since Dad was in the Army. We settled in Iowa, and I lived in central Iowa (Marshalltown, Ames, Boone, Huxley) for around 20 years. I had always wanted to move to Colorado after family vacations to south central Colorado almost every summer, and finally had an opportunity to do so in 2000 when my company had an open position here. I jumped at the opportunity, was here for about six months, and they closed my division, putting me out of work. I took a few months off and visited family and then got a job working for St. Vrain Valley School District in Longmont and surrounding towns. I got married in 2003, and that lasted about four years (eight-year relationship). I'm currently single and we didn't have children, so I'm pretty happy and have some new opportunities and a lot more energy!
I'm a little slow about this, but I'm going to get around to posting some of my work eventually.
I'm into a little bit of everything in terms of hobbies, so I get distracted at times. The past few weeks have seen me completely reorganizing the house and building a new computer case, among other things, so my photography takes a back burner at those times.
