Where do you hail from/ Fun Thread

[Guy Mancuso]

It is always nice to find out where are members come from or there home base maybe. If no one noticed we are over 1500 members now and in a pretty short time this forum has really grown. I actually made the second post and I think we have been around since October of 2007 when Jack and I opened the doors. So for us it has been awhile since we heard from YOU. I think this is always fun to see how global the members are. Be fun to hear from you folks and maybe something about yourself that you would like to share. Don't be shy we are all friends here. Have fun

 

[JohnH]

Guy,

Home base? If only I knew.

I have a house near Byron Bay [Australia], my partner Cathy has her house in San Francisco, and my real job [software consultant] has just taken us to Bangkok. Other locations this year have included Singapore and Istanbul. When people ask where do I live - I need to check the newspaper to see where I am.

Traveling this way introduces opportunities for obtaining images that highlight cultural and economic contrasts - sometime to our - 'Western' - disadvantage, sometimes allowing reflections on just how life could be different.

My next career, my third [well, I am into my second career - I started as a CPA] is to be far more creative - photography and writing. Now when this recession is over...

And this site - where the posters are positive, constructive and helpful - is a gem. :toocool: Well done.

Cheers,

John

Image is Bangkok, riverside. D2Xs, 2.8, 1/250.

 

[Ben Rubinstein]

OK, live in Jerusalem but commute and work (wedding photographer) in the North West of England based in Manchester. Been back in Jerusalem for a year, I emigrated in '98 but then spent 4 years back in the UK for financial and family reasons. Might have to head back for a further 3 years, so that my wife can do her phd there, she already has a Bsc and Msc in Genetics and Molecular Biology from Manchester University. Although I want to live here in Jerusalem, the city I love so much, the real world is making it very hard to do so for more than a couple of years at a time!

...and with mercy return us to Jerusalem your city (from a Jewish prayer recited 3 times a day)

 

[Guy Mancuso]

I'm jealous John and Ben. Even though a hassle being in different parts of the world and having to travel a lot is a hassle the upside is you get to experience the world we love to photograph. I am grateful for traveling quite a bit when i was a little younger and making many stops around the globe.

 

[Oxide Blu]

Born and raised in Milpitas, south San Francisco bay area. Jack will know where it is. It is everything Los Altos wishes it was.

Have a home in Oakland and an apartment in Japan where I have been living the last 1-1/2 years, in what they call "the country". That just means it isn't a big city, no subways. The town is surrounded by the Pacific ocean on one side, forest on two sides, and rice fields on the other. I return to the SF bay area for a couple of weeks every 3 or 5 months.

 

[cjlacz]

Grew up in Kansas City, but spent almost 8 years in Dallas after graduating college. I enjoy seeing Lili's pictures of home. I'm currently living in Tokyo. Ebisu specifically, which is right in the middle of things. Living here got me interested in photography again.

I've seen myself improve some over the past year, but I haven't gotten out to take pictures at regularly as I like. I really enjoy reading this forum and I find the opinions here to be a lot more thought out and balanced then dpreview. If anyone knows some of some photography classes, groups, clubs or anything in Tokyo I'd be interested to hear about them. Japanese is ok too, doesn't have to be just English.

Not me, but a picture from this weekend.

 

[Oxide Blu]

... Japanese is ok too, doesn't have to be just English.

I found it is easier to teach the whole town English than it is for me to learn Japanese. But I still try, mostly concentrate on how to order drinks in a bar.

Damn bona fide English teachers showed up and screwed my credibility. They told everyone "who's your daddy?" is not a proper response to someone's "good morning" salutation.

I'm 2 hrs below Nagoya, along the coast in Mie ken, Ise-shi. Depending on which direction I go, Nagoya, Nara, Kyoto, Kobe are all about 2-hrs from me.

 

[cjlacz]

Haha, I've enjoyed teaching some 'proper' English too, only have someone come and mess it up for me.

I studied Japanese as a hobby for about 7.5 years in the US so I can communicate ok I guess. I've actually gotten worse since I moved to Japan. Seems weird, but it would make sense if I explain it.

 

[Lisa]

Gosh, I feel so parochial compared with many of you here! I was born at the south end of California and gradually moved north until I found myself in the San Fran Bay area, and seem to have gotten stuck here. Decent place to get stuck...

I do travel a great deal, though, so I've seen other parts of the world, though only briefly.

Lisa

 

[Lars]

Stockholm, Sweden again, home after some 15 years overseas and travelling.

I was in Palo Alto, California through the nineties, then back in Stockholm for a few years before taking a few years to focus on landscape photography. I spent two years on the road in Spain, US southwest, Chile, and Australia. Then California working for startup Light Crafts for a year. Since then, Mexico, Malta, and now finally full circle to where I grew up.

Lars

 

[mwalker]

Lars I did the full circle too. I left Paducah Kentucky after college (University of Kentucky) in 1981, and moved to Dallas Tx, then Eugene Oregon, then Seattle Washington, then Evansville Indiana and after 22 years moved back to Paducah, KY. I was glad to get back home.
Paducah is where the Ohio, Tennessee, and Mississippi Rivers meet. Far western tip.

I don't know who said this but its correct, "You spend the first half of your life trying to leave where you grew up and the last half trying to get back"

 

[Bob]

Any airport departure lounge.
Actually born and raised in New York City and at 27 moved to the San Francisco Bay area. I lived there for 23 years, then moved to Sudbury (near Boston) for the weather.
-bob

I once met a Scotswoman who told me, when I asked about her favorite place in Scotland, replied "The airport departure lounge"

 

[Stuart Richardson]

This is fun to hear everybody's story!

I was born in Auckland, NZ, but my parents are both American. After a short time, they moved back to the northeast, and I grew up in CT. They are still there. I did college in Vermont, studying Russian, Japanese and History. Then I went to live in Vladivostok for a year on a Fulbright. Then grad school in Santa Barbara for 5 years, lived 6 months in Sapporo, Japan during that period. I decided I liked the idea of photography more than that of becoming a professor of Russian and Japanese history. After the MA I went to Europe for a few weeks with a eurail pass. I stopped in Iceland on the way. I completely fell in love with the country and the culture. Though I moved back to NY for two years, took a few classes at ICP, and did freelance, I studied Icelandic and planned the move there. Now I am in the process of setting up a custom printing and processing lab here in Reykjavik, and trying to find some more freelance photographic work.
Whew.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Oh well what the heck . Grew up in Trenton, New Jersey. Yes the armpit . LOL
Actually it was great in a way , i learned the street and how to survive in almost any situation and learned about people. Went to the School of Visual Arts in New York and the Art Institute of Atlanta for some formal photo education even though I was a working Pro at the age of 19 and attending school also. Moved to Tucson Arizona and was a assistant for 4 years and had started my own business for 4 years than was sucked up by a very large at the time Fortune 92 company, Honeywell and did a 16 year gig with them and traveled the world shooting all there advertising and annual reports. Than was laid off after 9/11/01 and been back in business since than. Short story but i am really basically self taught and shot almost everything there is in the photo world. Been shooting digital since day one almost and been through almost every system known and every format. There is much more but that should be enough for now. Bottom line i have been a Pro for 33 years and this is what I love and what i do the best and still have that passion for it since i picked up a camera at age 12. Actually i feel blessed by it all. Oh and i do have a great wife and two wonderful kids. I know i kid around a lot about them but they are my world.

 

[Lisa]

Oh well what the heck . Grew up in Trenton, New Jersey. Yes the armpit . LOL

Not possible, Guy! I'd always heard that Elizabeth, New Jersey was the armpit of the country (at least according to my spouse, who grew up there:thumbdown...

Or is one the left armpit and the other the right armpit???

Lisa

 

[asabet]

I grew up on Long Island, New York. My mom is from Korea and my dad from Iran. They are both physicians and came to NY to do residency together in 1967. If anyone wants to make the joke that I am a one-man axis of evil, I've already heard it . I know one other Iranian-Korean American, and he is my older brother.

I went to college in Massachusetts followed by a couple years in NYC with 3-4 simultaneous jobs but not much of a career goal. Then went to med school in Washington, D.C. where I met my wife Virginia, who was two classes ahead of me. I followed her to Maryland for residency/fellowship and recently joined the faculty of the Baltimore med school where I did my training.

So basically, I've spent my whole life in a small area on the east coast of the US. Maybe I'll get a chance to explore the world more in the future, but Gini is pretty much a home body, so I wouldn't bet on it.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Not possible, Guy! I'd always heard that Elizabeth, New Jersey was the armpit of the country (at least according to my spouse, who grew up there:thumbdown...

Or is one the left armpit and the other the right armpit???

Lisa

I think Trenton is the left side.:ROTFL::ROTFL::ROTFL:

There is a bridge in Trenton that leads to Pennsylvania and the famous saying on it is "What Trenton Makes The World takes". I say who the heck wants whatever they make, it can't be good.

 

[ecliffordsmith]

Hi All,

A very nice thread idea!

My story so far is, born in Essex, England about 50 kilometres east of central London where I worked for about 10 years in banking and after the dot com bust got made redundant and decided to go to Thailand for a while where I met a Belgian lady. I now live in Antwerp with the Belgian lady and work in Brussels, not in banking!

 

[micek]

Swedish mother and Spanish father, born in the Canary Islands -off the northern African coast. Brought up in an English boarding school; then read History at Cambridge, as a result of which I am married to an English woman and have three Spanish-speaking British-passport bearing daughters. I currently live in The Canary Islands where I earn a living as a translator and as an architectural photographer.

 

[johnastovall]

Coleman, Coleman County, Texas, U.S.A. Seem to always end up in Texas but for 20 years traveled extensively in U.S. Latin America, Europe and Asia due to job and to use frequent flyer miles.

Currently in Dublin, Texas plotting an escape so some place else next year for a new residence. Wanted a Cheap Place to live where it's warm and people sit around in small bars and cafes a lot.