See my Digital Photography Portfolio, or continue on reading about my history with digital cameras.

I began using cameras when I was in the Boy Scouts. My parents got me a nice automatic 35mm camera. I shot many many rolls through that during the times I went camping, especially in Glacier National Park. Then junior high school became more of a thing in my life and I ended up having less time to and interest in photography.

Then I began getting into website development and my father got me a Kodak DC120 digital camera. It was a massive camcorder looking still camera that took pictures at 1.2 MP.  I did some neat web development and showcased my father’s business, the House of Color, and the work they were doing. The website has since been replaced with someone much more modern than something created in the late 90’s.

I took a ton of pictures with the 2MB CF cards I had for the Kodak, and used it up until I got into college. I was floating my roommates rent for him while he was waiting for his loan paperwork to clear. It took them many months, and when I was finally paid, I bought myself a new camera. I ended up getting the Olympus C-7070WZ. It was quite the leap in technology at 7.1MP over the Kodak’s 1.2MP. I used this camera to complete the Photographic Guide to Common Fishes of the Buffalo River.

During my capstone project I studied the behavior of the Green Darner dragonfly. While collecting data in the lab, I was presented with the opportunity to go to California to study an endangered fish. I ended up getting that opportunity, and worked in Zzyzx, CA at the Desert Studies Center for a summer with a student at North Dakota State University. About half way through that project, I had enough money saved up to get myself a better camera.

I ended up getting a Canon 30D, which was new that year, and the 70-200 f/4.0L Canon lens. This was an incredible leap in photographic technology. I spent a lot of time behind that camera. I still use it today, and a majority of the pictures on my portfolio were taken with this camera. Over the years I’ve gotten a couple other lenses for it including the 18-55 canon kit EFS lens, and the EF Sigma DX 50 macro lens.