What up Steemit!

My name is Daniel and I'm a 28 year old photographer living in southern California. I recently heard about Steemit through YouTube and figured I should give it a shot.

My Story

I was in the Air Force for six years stationed in Little Rock, Arkansas and was honorably discharged last September. I'm now back home in California working towards my goal of becoming a professional portrait photographer and retoucher.

I bought my first camera in May 2017, it was a Sony a6000. The lens that came with it was a 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 kit lens, but I also bought a 50mm f1.8. Despite my very limited understanding of the technical side of things (ISO, shutter speed, aperture, crop-sensor, full-frame, etc), it didn't take long for me to realize I loved photography and that this was something I really wanted learn more about as well as pursue as a career. I began by taking landscape and travel photos then gradually moved into portraits. Arkansas is a beautiful state with lots of beautiful nature to experience so I went out and practiced taking photos as often as I could.

I was so excited to learn all I could about photography and editing, so I started watching countless hours of YouTube videos and tutorials that I could, as well as follow many inspiring photographers on Instagram. As a result I came across many professional and freelance photographers I would look to for inspiration.

A few notable names:
Jason Lanier
Dani Diamond
Irene Rudnyk
Chris Knight
Manny Ortiz

Those are the top 5 I can think of right now but there are many many more, I'm sure you can all relate to this!

Back Home

When I came back to California I began ramping up my Instagram activity and came across several photo meetups hosted by influencers and groups like The Gypsy Shack, H, The Portrait Culture, and others. However, around late November I hit a wall and had to slow way down on going to those because I took more pictures than I could handle or had time for, plus a number of other things I just had to prioritize. This is especially considering I was still trying to get a good editing workflow down and working a full-time job. I'm still in a period where I'm trying to find a good balance in my life before I hit the ground running and get my gears going with photography again, but I hope to share these meetups with all of you in the weeks and months to come.

In November I pre-ordered the Sony a7RIII. It came at the perfect time too. I actually almost impulsively pulled the trigger on buying the a7RII in August when I attended Jason Lanier's presentation for Rotolight in Pasadena. Thankfully I was patient and waited for my employment situation to see itself through. When the new camera was released in December I had to buy it on store credit, and I unfortunately I had to put off getting the 85mm 1.4 GM lens that I really wanted. I was still super excited to test it out and configure all the settings when I got back home.

Backing things up a bit more, I first bought Bitcoin in July of 2015 and really had no idea how much it would be worth 2 years later. I basically left it alone and forgot about it until last December. Long story short, I will be investing in a new PC workstation for photo editing and potentially a new lens to go with that, I am currently torn between the 85mm 1.4 GM and 35mm 1.4 Zeiss. I am also really interested in getting my hands on some vintage lenses that would make for very dreamy and interesting portraits, they tend to not be as expensive as well.

The only light I currently have in my kit is the Rotolight Neo 2 and I plan on also purchasing the larger Aeos as well as a soft box and other modifiers. It will take me some time to get all the basic gear I need, but I am just enjoying the process as I go.

I will also be going to school for photography full-time at the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles. I've shopped around all the different art schools in LA and NYFA definitely has the best photography programs, all the way up to a Master's Degree which is what I'm shooting for. Hopefully I will be able to keep you guys in the loop on that as time goes on :)

Anyways, I am very excited to be apart of the Steemit community and look forward to getting to know everyone! If you would like to see more of my work that I currently have out, you can give me a visit on Instagram.