Lou Janelle

I don’t remember when I first started taking photos, but it was many years ago, with my dad’s Brownie camera.  Back then it was just photographs of family and friends.  About 30-40 years ago I got my first SLR, a Minolta--used--from a friend. I was still taking photos of people.

Then I took a non-credit class at Akron U on photography.  One of the assignments was to do a time lapse of the night sky; another was a landscape shot.  I don’t remember an assignment for wildlife, but when I started spending January in Sanibel, Florida, I got hooked on bird photography.  The large birds that call Sanibel home were easy to photograph, especially the big guys: Great Egrets, Roseate Spoonbills, Brown and White Pelicans, etc.  Even the “little” birds, the Snowy Egrets, Yellow Crown Night Herons, etc., were large and easy to photograph, compared to a warbler, robin or cardinal.

My goal now is to visit as many national parks as I can with what time I have left on this earth.  This year I’ve done Everglades, Yellowstone & Grand Tetons, Theodore Roosevelt and Acadia National Parks, with plans to visit Great Smoky Mountain NP in October.  Next year I have booked a trip to Yellowstone in Winter, at the end of January.  

I do not, nor do I plan to ever sell my photos.  Instead, I use them to make my own greeting cards that I send to family and friends as birthday, Christmas, get well, congratulations, etc.

From the Minolta SLR, I moved to a Nikon D-90 DSLR, with several lens.  After my Sherpa (husband) passed 5 years ago, it was too much for me to carry the camera, all the assorted lenses, tripod, etc., so I downsized to a “bridge” camera.  I now shoot with a Sony RX10 Mark 4 fixed lenses camera.  While it has a cropped sensor, the fixed lens goes from 24 to 600 mm, allowing me to capture some nice photos of birds and animals, and also people and landscapes without changing lenses.