About Monte Stevens

Working 40 hours a week in an 8x8 cube was not the life I envisioned living as a young man. It’s been almost 5 years since that life and a nine-to-five job seems almost impossible to go back to. I now work as a flight attendant (which barely pays the bills) and try to live life for the enjoyment rather than the paycheck. This includes pursuing my love of photography.

I was born under the astrological sign of Cancer in 1950. From what I remember of it, I had a wonderful childhood growing up along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. I moved to Westerville, Ohio in June or 2008 because of my job. My interest in photography began in junior high when I picked up a twin-lens reflex camera. I setup a small black and white dark room in my dad's basement developing my film and making my own prints. After over 20 years away from photography I began shooting again with Nikon 35mm SLR cameras, and a dormant seed of passion begun to sprout.

I ventured into the world of digital photography in 2003 by purchasing a Nikon D100 and have not regretted the change. I presently own two and an assortment of Nikon and Sigma lenses. Over the past 2 years I have down sized most of my camera equipment and carry smaller lenses due to the amount of travel I do. I just upgraded to the new Nikon D300 and am working through the learning curve of this powerful camera.

I am drawn to shapes, colors, patterns of nature and our landscapes. I find the solitude of nature to be a wonderful place to spend quality time and unfortunately feel these places are becoming scarce. I have been enjoying playing with portraiture and the studio. And, with all the travel I've been doing I have also ventured out into streets more, looking for the everyday scenes we so often overlook or a perspective we often never see.

I am divorced, have three adult children and four grandchildren. Other interests and passions include travel, motorcycle touring, fly-fishing, light hiking, reading, writing and finding a local coffee shop.

I have been posting images on the internet since 2004 on both PBase and PhotoPoints . These two websites have provided a wonderful community of photographers, and I feel it has been a great classroom environment. I see a Photoblog as an experiment to take another path, to view the world through anothers lens, to discover more about myself, and the joy it will bring. Here is another blog I've started that uses wordpress. I want to see how it works.

I hope you enjoy my images. Please feel free to leave comments and critiques.

Photography Equipment

Cameras and lens:
Nikon D300
Nikon D100 (2)
Nikon 50mm f1.8
Nikon 85mm f1.8
Nikon 18-200mm f3.5-5.6 VR
Nikon 70-300mm f4.0-5.6 VR
Sigma 105 f2.8 Macro
Nikon SB-800

Tripods:
Bogen 3443D Carbon Fiber Tripod
Really Right Stuff B2-Pro Ball Head

Computer and Software:
MacBook
Nikon View NX
Nikon Capture NX
PhotoShop Elements 6
Lightroom 2 (Loving it)