Gettin Serious-er

First taking photos was something I wanted to do because my buddy Bill is really good at it and I was jealous. I knew I could never get as good as him, but I thought I had a chance to put some decent stuff on film.

I bought a Nikon N90s and took a couple classes at the Smithsonian. They were cheap, and I could not afford the fancy stuff at the Corcoran or elsewhere. My first efforts, looking back, are hilarious. I showed Bill photos of flowers and fountains and though Ansel Adams could kiss my ass. Bill always smiled and was like, "Uh-huh, those are pretty good." I'm sure he was laughing his ass off at me for thinking a slightly underexposed bunch of yellow flowers was gallery-ready.

I've since tried to take it all a bit more serious. I decided to schlep out the money for a newer digital camera and some accompanying gear. I started packing less clothes on vacations to fit in my camera and tripod. Then I bought a camera bag to travel with so it could fit my laptop and the two other lenses I bought. When trampsing around Hawaii, Paris, NYC or DC, I start feeling like I am part of a wider crew of people. Other photographers start nodding at me like I know what I am doing, instead of rolling their eyes like they do the tourists with their low-end gear (even though that stuff can still take better pictures than I do just because it's all about self-satisfaction).

When my organization moved into newer digs and I got my own office, I started hanging up my own photography while others were using stuff bought at Pier 1 or posters from other stores. I'm not going to knock the people who hang "art" their kids made in pre-K. Go for it, even if you cannot tell what the hell they made.

Now I figured it's time to take another next step. I've registered a domain and got my stuff on a whole website of its own. www.chriscampbellphotos.com. There are about 9,000 other Chris Campbells out there, and they took all the other photo-related domains, so that is the best I could get. Now I can fool others into thinking that I have an ounce of skill. From now on that top, right menu bar directing you to my online galleries will be replaced with a teaser to my real website. It's kinda buddy right now, but with time I will improve it. So go on over and check it out when you can, and tell your friends. Everyone enjoys a new website to check out, they'll thank you for it later.