I've been a photo enthusiast since 1948, when I received a Brownie Flash 620 for my 14th birthday, followed by a Kodak Signet (wow, an f3.5 lens!), then a Kodak Retina IIa (wow, an f2 lens!), a Rolicord, and then, in 1955, my first Nikon, a Nikon S (wow, an f1.4 lens!), which would be worth a fortune today if I had hung on to it, and I have been a Nikon user ever since. I did serve a brief stint as a wedding photographer in Hartford, CT back in the '60s, using a Speed Graphic with a 2-1/4x3-1/4 inch film back on it and a monstrously heavy Braun strobe unit. Automation was not a term applied to photography in any form in those days. A D70 is now my main camera, using a variety of lenses that once belonged to my film SLRs, the two main ones being Tokina ATX f2.8 lenses, one a 28-70 and the other an 80-200. The images I upload will be a hodgepodge of all sorts of different stuff, and I expect they will include stuff I took ('scuse me, "images I captured";...gotta get the modern terminology right ) throughout the 60 years that I've been squeezing shutter buttons. I was born and raised in New England, but after 30 years of putting up with that region's inhospitable climate, my pregnant wife, our year-old son and two German shepherds piled into our brand new 1967 Chevy Bel Aire wagon, after selling our home in Connecticut, and headed west to sunnier lands. I didn't have a new job waiting for me, but we knew we desperately wanted that mild Mediterranean climate, and we had faith that all would work out for us. And it did. I also have been having a lot of fun with Photoshop Elements, and every image I've posted has been run through Photoshop, mostly to tweak the exposure and white balance (I shoot RAW exclusively), but you'll find some that have been manipulated clear out of the realm of reality. For instance, the egret in the image below was photographed against a mud flat, so I removed it from the original photo and placed it against a sunrise. It's all in fun, and that's what I'm here for: FUN. Regarding groups that require comments or faves when I post my images, I have found that the few that I have joined, while fun, have proved to be quite time consuming. I do comment on other photos often, and I enjoy doing so, but I mainly search through my contacts or the various subject-oriented groups, none of which require me to comment or fave. I simply search for images that catch my eye and comment on them because I really feel they deserve a comment. So, if I don't accept your invitation to join a group, please understand. As much as I may like to join you, I simply don't have the time. I'm Male and Taken. Corte Madera, CA