My name is Derek Kite and I am a hobbyist photographer.
It is a bit of an addiction. A few years ago I got a Canon sx-20is in a promotion. It took me a few years to hit my head on it's capabilities. As my wont, I seem to gravitate towards the most challenging aspects of any endeavor, and with a camera I wanted to take great photos of birds. I managed to get a few but was disappointed in the clarity and reach. I upgraded to a Olympus E-420 with a 300mm zoom, and was able to do quite a bit better. What got my juices running was a session watcing a kestrel pair feeding it's young. My companion has a Nikon D7000 and 300mm F2.0 lens. My gear could not get anywhere near the clarity of his photos, so I started looking for an upgrade. I couldn't see myself hauling around his equipment on my dog walks, nor spending the amount of money he did. I was seriously exploring longer and faster olympus glass and the new E-5, and read the dpreview where it compared poorly to the K-5.
This site is an amazing resource. The lens reviews, the tips and techniques moved me towards Pentax and am now waiting for my K-5 to arrive. I have some legacy glass coming and look forward to stretching my abilities even further.
I know it is not all about equipment. I managed to get some decent shots with what I have. I'm looking forward to exploring the capabilities of the dynamic range and high ISO.
Here are a couple of my favorite shots
Last edited by derekkite; 09-07-2011 at 08:22 PM.
Reason: Added image links