Who me?? You’re interested in who I am!? You sure? Well then, I’m going to introduce myself with light.

Light is at the essence of life. To interact and play with it is to try and know our essence: what makes us who we are. And it seems as we learn how light plays, beauty begins to reach our eyes in the right moments and in the right light. When those moments vibrantly splash in front of us, they knock at the depths of who we are in a special way that leaves us yearning to capture them. This is when some dude from way back when invented photography- the guy obviously realized that his memory wasn’t going to forever capture that magic moment for him. No, but seriously! Photography is something very special to me. As a photographer I believe that I see the world in a unique and beautiful way- photography is my art: my attempt at trying to let people see what I see and indulge in it as much as I do. (I bet you started reading all that and were like essence? light!!? What the … is this guy talking about?! - Never fear. I always follow through in the end, promise. ;)

I know not everyone sees photography how I see it and that’s what makes the world go round, right? But because I see it the way I happen to see it, I really do honestly and passionately care about you having the best possible camera for your needs and budget (..I know, I know.. I wish we didn’t have to worry about the green stuff too).

So who am I to be recommending cameras for you aside from my passion? WELL! I’ve been a photographer my entire life. My first camera was a Fisher Price point-and-shoot that I thought was way more fun to chew on than actually take photos with- good times. And that’s why I’m qualified to recommend cameras to you. The end.

Kidding! Actually, I grew up with a sweet little manual 35mm. Then way back in y2k (2000 C.E.) my family bought Canon’s first DSLR, the EOS D30, which had about the same amount of megapixels my camera phone does right now- crazy. I bought a Nikon N65 (film SLR) about a year after that because film was still a lot better, then rocked a Sony Cybershot DSC-V1 (which was one of the first, compact at the time, digital cameras that was fully manual and had attachable lenses). The list just goes on and gets crazier: I’ve used and owned a lot of DSLR’s and compact digitals since then with special thanks going to all the photography contests that give away compact digitals as prizes.. It’s like, do you really think photographers need more of these??? Gee, thanks Fuji!

That aside, I have two majors from the University of Wisconsin- Madison: one in human factors psychology (usability), and the other in anthropology. So my specialization is in the optimization of tools and technology based on the biological and psychological needs of human beings. Meaning…?! I generally know when a camera is going to work well for us Homo sapiens or not. And believe it or not, this is super important: just because something has all the bells and whistles does not mean it’s going to be harmonious to use!

I’ll leave it at that for now, but if you for some odd reason have not had enough of me already and actually want to know more, God forbid, you can check out some of my work etc at: SilentSymphonies.com

Beautiful.

I hope all of you guys enjoy this site. (It really is an incredible resource that would have saved me HOURS consulting friends on what cameras to buy). Have an amazing day and always remember: light is at the essence of life and beauty.. take some time to capture it. :)

ALL my best!

-JOE/SilentSymphonies