There are many reasons I could give to explain why taking pictures is so much joy for me. There you go. I've expressed the main one already: I like taking pictures and I love when they come out good. Of course there are other reasons... like the fact I can't really draw, paint or carve and since one needs a sink for one's "artistic" excitements, photography is among those few things left which I can do without harming other people's sense of taste (I hope).

One more reason I could bring up is the sheer beauty of places I've been to. But it's not true. Every place on earth is interesting and beautiful; the problem lies in finding the right moment to capture that beauty. I generally don't limit myself to only certain areas of photography like landscapes or portraits. I take pictures of everything and every time I think it's worth it. American southwest is very special to me because the weather conditions are excellent (clean air, arid climate, warm-colored sandstone), but still out of a hundred shots maybe one or two came out nice enough to be shown here. I've always wondered how photographers like Michael Fatali work. Waiting for the right light for days sometimes and not catching the right exposure. How many shots do they take before deciding it's enough? I hardly believe they ever know it for certain. The beauty of conventional (as opposed to digital) photography is in not knowing whether the picture just taken will truly reflect the beauty of the moment.

I am a computer scientist so one could ask a question about digital photography. Well, I personally don't mind using digital equipment, however I never use it for the pictures I would like to enlarge or hang on a wall in my apartment. Shooting digital is fun, because you can see the results immediately and there's always "another chance" for taking another shot if something went wrong... and this is what I don't like I guess. The lack of that thrilling emotion when you develop a roll of film and have (perhaps naive) expectations for the greatest picture of your life.

I hope you will enjoy my pictures and I hope you'll let me know whether you liked them or not.