Rod Pranke

On my first trip to the northwestern US I stopped to take some snapshots of a buffalo and the surrounding scenery with a Polaroid. I was instantly transformed into a wanna be photographer but was disappointed with the limitations of the camera and not being able to capture more of the beauty that I experienced. It was many years later that I purchased my first digital camera. An Olympus D-600L and within a few weeks went out and purchased all the goodies and accessories for it that I could get my hands on. About 2 years ago I purchased a Sony DSC-F717 and along with my daughter in law, who also purchased an identical Sony, and my darling wife, Bobbie, now the proud owner of the Olympus, we established a family web site to share all the photos and experiences with the rest of the family. That same summer we were privileged to have 3 of our grandsons, aged 8 to 12, stay with us each for a week and I had the opportunity and time to take them out to the mountains and with careful supervision on handling Grandma’s camera we were able to take 100’s of pics, many of which were suitable for printing. That ‘tour’, for lack of a better word, seemed to make their parents and the rest of the adults within our family a bit jealous so now all of the family members have their own digital camera from grade school on up. I’m sure the toddlers will eventually have their own too as soon as they figure out what that funny looking object that goes click is.
I will be retired soon and Bobbie and I have decided, since we both love the outdoors and the mountains so much and want to ‘share the moment’ with anyone who expresses the same interest, that this is what we want to do before retiring to that ‘old folks home in the sky’. This endeavor may take a substantial investment to meet my desires though and I’ve decided to join a few photo clubs to ask questions of real people and get some valuable advice before making another purchase.