I am a retired IT Management executive who began photographing in the early 1970's with an Olympus half frame camera (72 shots on a 36 picture roll) shooting mostly vacation and family. I got my first SLR in the mid 80's at which time I started to approach photography more as a creative art process rather than as simple documentation of a vacation. As my interest in photography and skill level increased, I have gone through several styles as well as cameras and lenses.

I tend to shoot in easily accessible locations where thousands of other photographers have preceded me. My goal is to capture images that show a different take on well known subjects or to select subjects and perspectives in those locations not normally photographed.
During my development (no pun intended) as a photographer I have honed my aesthetic and technical skills to produce images that talk to me and convey the sense and feeling-of-place I had when I was at the scene shooting. Of course this process never ends as I continue to discover new ways to look at things and new perspectives and techniques on how to capture them in the camera.

Teaching
As I continued my photography, I find myself in many camera shops near and far. While waiting my turn in such places I have often overheard other customers with expensive DSLR cameras and lenses asking the sales person very basic questions about how to use their camera. It seems that many people buy expensive cameras then use it like a point-and-shoot in full auto mode and wonder why their pictures don't look much different than with their old P&S camera. After witnessing several such incidents, one in which the customer returned the camera to the store for a refund when a simple change of settings would have fixed her issue, I decided there was a need to offer low cost tutoring on how to use a DSLR camera. Many people want to get the most out of their new camera but at the same time don't want to go to college and major in photography. I've always loved teaching so, I got into the DSLR tutoring business. You can see more about my lessons, given in Palo Alto, CA and nearb at www.danhartfordphoto.com/lessons.