A BIG hello to everyone using this Forum.

SmutjeUK · 2010-10-09T10:13:01+0100

I know this is a bit of a longer thread but you got everything of importance in here there is to know about my 50+ years. Also born as a West German I am now located on the outskirts of Poole in Dorset (I got naturalised and decided that Great Britain was the country I like to live in as it fits more my personality and that may be because my Grand-dad was from England, Cornwall to be more precise, and was a PoW in WW1 and then married my Granny and both staid in Western Germany), have a lot of beautiful countryside just on my doorstep as well as some interesting (not only from the photographic side) places right here. The Jurassic Coastline, Corf Castle, Portland Bill and Lulworth Cove, to name just a few of the more well known places. As of my photographic background, may father was a press photographer (NOT a paparazzi but he did proper journalistic work. He used to work for AP and when he was home also for a local newspaper) and I used to work as a Photo assistant in my younger years with that newspaper in Düsseldorf / West Germany. I then had to join the army and as I signed on for a few years I first used to work as a photographer in the 1st corps in Münster but after a rather heated ‘discussion’ with my direct superior Officer (never a good idea, but you know how hot headed someone as a young person can be, in particular you are right and try to stand your ground. NEVER a good idea in the army! But, you only learn with age) about some of pictures, my work as an army photographer was rather cut short and I was transferred to an Anti Aircraft Battery in one of the most beautiful areas in Schleswig-Holstein in West Germany, right at the Baltic Coast. I used to owe a Pentax ME Super (Black with winder) as well as a ‘normal ME (Black) with various lenses and a Metz 45 CT1 and never lost my interest since then in Nature, Scenic and Still Life Photography. Also Sports, Artistic, ‘Action’ and News Photography stuck in my blood but it was too hard to get a appendence ship or even a job as a photographer in a world where every second person it seemed worked in one way or the other as a photographer. But where one door closes another opens and I landed a job with a large professional photo labour who where catering for mainly studio and advertising industry and learned whatever there was to learn. I then moved over to Helgoland (a very small island in the North Sea) and worked there as a photo labour that concentrated mainly on the one hour tourist industry. With the time I got bored of this and I started working all over the place until I worked as an auxiliary nurse in Germany and got training through to become a nurse (equivalent to an RGN). I then volunteered as a Nurse in the ‘Balkan conflict’ and after that needed some R&R in Spain where I worked as a life guard. Unfortunately for me this was BEFORE the EU came together and I was send on my way for working without a working or residential permit (luck for me I got just send on by the local Guardia Civil as the guys knew me and gave me the chance to leave rather then take me in and send me home) and after a short spell in the Netherlands I came to England. Well Forget working in photography here, in particular if you do not know where to turn and I was not becoming a ‘paparazzi’ so I joined a nursing agency and worked in various places in London. After about one year in London I started hating the city and found a job in a Nursing Home in Bournemouth. Working there I looked to better myself and found a job in a Local Hospital and got married at the same time I started working in the hospital. I then injured myself so severely that I can not work again and be ever since registered disabled. I am restricted of what I can lift and walking still is difficult for me and is always combined with pain. As I am not allowed to drive a car medically (as my back can lock up at times without prior warning, which effects the use of my legs/feed but not of my hands) I have looked in to a scooter but due to the injury got some problems with my balance at times so I am looking in to a Quad Bike at the moment (Doctor says that this would be fine) but have to find the finances first (unless I win in the lottery. Fat chance on this one) but this is probably the most likely form of transport for me in the future as Public Transport where I life is just a joke, if it runs at all. About half a year ago I started selling bits and pieces on feeBay and a couple of other places and saved up to purchase first a Sony PD150 but filming is for me not the same as photography. I then got myself a Panasonic Lumix FZ38 to get ‘that digital fever’ and was so taken in and started really enjoying photography again that I wanted a Digital SLR. Finally last week I was able to get myself a Samsung GX 10 body with a battery grip in mint condition. This is supported by a Metz32 CT7 Flash (I use it on manual settings till I find a hot shoe for Pentax / Samsung to ad the TTL option for it (SCA 374) but in may haste then I purchased also a Pentax F 35-80mm f4 – f5.6 zoom lens and I wish I had not done so. I guess most of you know why as I read ‘after the buy’ that this is probably one of the worst lenses that Pentax ever made. As I still have some saved money and some more stuff on feeBay I am now looking in to getting a couple of zooms that will not be as useless as the one that is an expensive paperweight (I got it for £30 incl. next day delivery, and will go on feeBay as soon as I got a decent lens of ANY kind) . For the future I look to get another body (Probably the GX 20 but maybe Pentax equivalent to it. I have not yet compared them site by site) and maybe be able to do some Stock-Photography and Videos (I may sell the Sony PD150 as I have a Video capability within the GX 20) This way I may be able to finance GX 20 and maybe get some money towards a second hand Quad as they start selling for about £500. I will keep the Lumix for the wife or as a light back-up). The idea with Stock-Photography and Video is not so much for the money but to get me away from hours of TV and get out of my Den, which will do me only good. So, there you got ME in a ‘nutshell’ and I believe it’s the most important points that anyone need to know about me. I hope very much that I have find here a welcoming community where I may be able to get a helping hand in one way (as I am not too good yet on the digital side yet, in particular the post processing of the pictures taken in Corel Photo Paint X4 SP2, as I can not get on with ADOBE at all and at the end they are similar just the icons and Dockers are different from what I could see plus I am with Corel since Corel Draw 3 and at least know where is what and how some things work together) and maybe I be able to give a helping hand here and there myself. Kind regards to everyone SmutjeUK

Just JoinedJust Joined

Add Comment

alun alun

304 posts
18 years
South Devon

Posted 11/10/2010 - 00:20 Link

Hi Bernhard
I would guess you now have the prize for the most detailed early posting ever. Keep it up!

SmutjeUK SmutjeUK

1041 posts
15 years
Dorset/UK

Posted 11/10/2010 - 00:40 Link

alun wrote:
Hi Bernhard
I would guess you now have the prize for the most detailed early posting ever. Keep it up!

Wow... Did I win a K5??? many thanks but I thought people want to know what gets you where you are and what makes you tick, your goals etc so this was just flowing out and not done on purpose. I looked at it later over and thought of editing it to a more compact version but that would have been too much work so I left it as it was and at least you know who I am and what I do, not really a bad thing?
Many thanks for your comment
Kind regards
SmutjeUK

Kind regards
SmutjeUK

It's nice to be nice!

Pentax K-5 with D-GB4 Grip, to many lenses to mention by now (serious LBA by now), TC's, Lowepro Slingshot 300 AW, Manfrotto 028 & Redsnapper RS-283 with various Heads plus various Camera Clamps (I collect them). Pentax AF 360FGZ, Pentax AF 240FT, several Metz 45 CT-1 & 5 with stands and 'Blow Up' Soft Boxes, Flash Triggers, and various Macro gear.

SmutjeUK SmutjeUK

1041 posts
15 years
Dorset/UK

Posted 11/10/2010 - 14:28 Link

Just to let you all know. New picture is up again in my portfolio and thanks to techno-terminator the pictures will get better as I get her D-Xenon 50-200 soon and that will produce better pictures than my 'paperwheight'!
Kind regards
SmutjeUK

emi emi

2 posts
15 years

Posted 27/09/2011 - 08:48 Link

pentax forum is a nice place to visit..what a wonderful and incredible site..keep moving

emi emi

2 posts
15 years

Posted 27/09/2011 - 08:49 Link

i am new to this site,i will like to meet new friends

fatspider fatspider

6378 posts
20 years
Leeds,
UK

Posted 27/09/2011 - 17:02 Link

Welcome to the forum Emilio

It might have been a good idea to say hello in a new thread, I'll see if I can get the Mods to sort it out for you.

My Names Alan, and I'm a lensaholic.
My PPG link
My Flckr link

Moderator

johnriley johnriley

24425 posts
24 years
Tyldesley,
Manchester

Posted 27/09/2011 - 22:59 Link

Unfortunately, splitting threads doesn't work with this software, so why not start a new thread anyway?

Best regards, John

judderman62 judderman62

1186 posts
15 years
Greater Mancunia

Posted 28/09/2011 - 20:32 Link

just a suggestion- you may want to consider breaking up larger posts into paragraphs - one large block of text like your OP isn't very easy on the eyes.

welcome aboard

- -
Mike

Pentax K5 / Pentax K5 11/ Pentax K200D / Canon Rebel T1 i / Canon 650D / Pentax MX-1 / Fuji XF1 /Fuji X 10 / Canon EOS-M / Canon G10/ Pentax Mz-7 x 2