9/4/09 - Changes are afoot! The gallery list was getting too big so I organized it into categories by year.

You can also visit me at http://www.cjchavez.com.

I've been snapping pictures for a long time but only recently started to view photography as art when I purchased my first dSLR. Even though I'm a bit dense and make a lot of mistakes, I’m having fun learning perspective, composition and other artsy-sounding terms. I'm okay with not being a great photographer; I'd rather photograph things that interest me in the moment than spend hours to set up a shot (basically, I have a short attention span and almost zero patience). I can appreciate great photography that others create and be pleasantly surprised when I manage to get a decent shot through my own careless efforts.

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and, as mentioned above, shoot things that interest me, mostly my kids (when they're not paying attention) and nature.

The public galleries contain my favorite landscape, macro and wildlife photos plus documentation of my trip to the 2007 All-Star Game. The private galleries have friends, family, vacations and various other events.

A note to friends and family: To protect your privacy, pictures of you and/or your kids will only be posted in private galleries. If you click on a private gallery you'll be given a password hint that you should be able to figure out. Let me know if you don't get it and I'll email it to you.

Unless otherwise noted all photographs in my galleries are protected by copyright and I would appreciate it if you would respect that and ask permission before using any of my images for any purpose. Note that the files on this site are of lower resolution than the originals.

If you're interested, here is what I currently use:

Camera Body-
Nikon D300

Lenses-
Nikkor 18-200 mm F/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF DX VR
Nikkor 70-300 mm f/4-5.6G VR ED AFS
Nikkor 50 mm f/1.8D AF
Tokina 12-24 mm f/4.0 PRO DX
Sigma 105 mm F2.8 EX DG Macro
Vivitar 70-210 mm f/3.5 Macro (manual focus)

Accessories-
Nikon SB-600 Speedlight
Kenko Extension Tubes
Better Beamer
Gitzo Monopod
Amvona/Dynatran Tripod w/Bogen QR Ball Head
Joby Gorillapod
Lowepro Micro Trekker 200
Lowepro Vertex 200 AW
ThinkTank Photo Speed Demon & Lens Changer 25

When future bouts of NAS (Nikon Acquisition Syndrome) hit, I’ll be on the hunt for...
Lensbaby 3G – Not sure if I have the patience to use one of these, but it will be fun to try!
Nikon 10.5 mm Fisheye
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 ED VR and 1.4 TC – Replace the 70-300 with some pro glass
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8