 Hi, my name is Danny . . .I'm a photographer looking to expand on my skills and expertise. While I've taken snapshots most of my adult life, it has only been in the past several years that I've taken a look at photography more seriously, started taking some photography classes, and worked to improve to the point of at least approximating a professional someday. My passion for photography accelerated a few years ago when, using a basic point-and-shoot digital camera, I became frustrated with the lack of control I had with the final image. I wanted to be able to change depth, to capture sharper images, and to get creative with lighting and speed. That's when I discovered digital SLR cameras, and purchased my first DSLR and a couple of lenses. That blossomed into a few more lenses, a monopod, a tripod and then a small professional studio setup with lots of studio lights and backdrops (maybe I'm addicted!). I love shooting just about anything that will hold still long enough in front of my lens, but my real passion is for living things, especially people and animals. While I love street photography (the art of capturing people in their "natural habitat" without the fake smile and blank glare into the camera before a shot), taking photos of strangers on the street can be daunting. If I ask permission to take the image and they agree, the "magic" of what street photography is all about is gone because now they are posing, even if they try to pretend to keep doing what they were doing before. And, of course, you can imagine the challenges with not asking permission beforehand. Some people really don't care, but some individuals are very sensitive about being photographed and I try to respect that. I also typically offer my business card to anyone I shoot on the street so they can write me to get a free copy of their image if they want one. And, if I think it might turn out to be a great shot, I ask them to sign this Model Release. That's why I turned my attention to models. While the setting is still contrived and not a natural experience that one could capture on the street, by using different locations, or by incorporating various props, lighting styles and backdrops in the studio I can create some very magical images. There is something about the human form that is just beautiful, both male and female, and I just love photographing people whenever I can. By day I'm the director of a program in Atlanta that works to prevent the transmission of HIV and to empower men and women to have fun, healthy and fulfilling sex lives while protecting their health. I love what I do because the environment I work in is very sex positive, meaning we never preach about using condoms or having safer sex, nor do we even tell folks how many sex partners one should have; we simply provide folks with things like free HIV testing, condom information and even free condoms and PrEP access, and let the adults make their own decisions about how many partners they want and whether or not they'll choose to use protection. And while I enjoy the work, it also helps pay the bills (and pays models and buys more photography supplies)! That's important since my photography is pretty much a hobby right now (unfortunately trending to be a very expensive hobby), and I rarely (at this point anyway) get paid for anything I shoot (and unfortunately I also can't routinely pay models who sit for me, either!). Basically I'm a pretty easy-going guy with a good sense of humor. I have a love of photography that I want to continue to develop through the generous help of the men and women who volunteer their time and talent to step in front of my camera and model for me so that I can practice. And, it IS practice. Fortunately, I've yet to have a shoot where no images came out well (even my very first studio shoot produced a couple of very powerful images). I'm hoping, over time, that ratio will improve as I'd like to get at least half the shots I do be high quality. As I said, I typically don't pay models unless I'm hiring for a specific project, but I do give anyone who wants a set some free images from the shoot post production (meaning I have a chance to look through them, correct any small imperfections and delete the bad ones!).  So that's a little about me and my photography interests. Thanks for taking the time to check out my site and what I do, and I hope if you have any interest that you will contact me to arrange a photo shoot. You also can find me on Model Mayhem as well. And, if you're just too shy to step in front of the lens, I hope you at least enjoy the images in the various galleries, and I'm always open to feedback and constructive criticism so feel free to drop me a line with your comments! Until I see you through the lens! |