What creates a good online community is the participation of the members that belong to it. Thank you all from the ViewBug staff.
One of our most valuable members Dennischeeseman talks to all of us in the interview below:
“I have been an active member of the ViewBug community for just over a year now. It has been a positive experience for me. I enjoy starting my day scrolling through pictures as I sip my morning coffee. I have spent my career in the graphic arts with the production of print and images. The quality of a picture in a magazine or daily newspaper starts with a good image from the photographer. Teaching the technical side of photography is easy, teaching the art is quiet another. The eye of a photographer is one of the toughest things to develop. By studying the images on the site I can always get a different perspective of how to try and shoot things, different angles, lighting, depth of field, etc. I welcome and appreciate anyone’s comments/ratings on my shots.
I have met a lot of great users who are open to sharing tips on their shots on this site. Most of the users are photo nuts who love to talk about their work. The competitions on ViewBug are another fun aspect for me. They give me an opportunity to go out and shoot things I may have never thought to shoot. Communities are a good way to meet and share similar types of photographs. Many users may have seen the “punked” community and wonder what is going on. This has been a fun group where users get to know each other and have fun picking on each other through pictures. I have been able to make a lot of good friends there.
I love nature photography, whether it is a landscape shot or trying to get a close up macro on something. I shoot with a Canon 50D and have a variety of different lenses. My camera is always with me, so as I walk around I love to hunt for the next great shot. Things change from season to season, birds migrate, flowers bloom and die, there is always something different even though you may be in the same spot. So you may see me hiding in the trees trying to get a bird shot or lying on the ground shooting a bug or flower. All of these relax me from a day of working. Then, after the sun goes down, I can upload them to my computer and see what I have captured. The ones I like will be posted on ViewBug.
As for tips, shoot something every day and learn how to use the manual settings on your camera. The same shot can change dramatically with small shifts in F-stop or shutter speed. Try taking the same shot with multiple settings on the camera so you can learn what works best in different cases. The great part of digital shooting is you can take lots of shots and keep only the ones you like. Shoot your passion and it will show in the results of your photography. Experiment and share! Thanks for reading! Regards,
Dennis Cheeseman”
