My Name is Beth Sargent and I live in Nipomo California. I absolutely love photography. I am very fortunate. I live in a beautiful area.

In the 1970's while in JR College, I purchased a Film SLR Camera called a Fujica ST701. I never went anywhere without it and took a lot of slides back then. I had slide shows for friends. I camped and traveled quite a bit in those days since I did not work full time yet. I had plenty of photo opportunities. I loved that camera. It took pretty good shots in the day and I had a few extra lenses, filters and adaptors for it. I still have that camera, though I no longer use it.
As time went on and I began working full time, life just got busy and I used my camera less and less.
A few years ago I purchased a Digital Camera. It was a 4 mega pixel Camera and I used it just once in a while. I was never really trying to take good shots with it, I just had it for fun. It really didn't take great pictures and it soon became way out of date. I am not quite sure what sparked my interest to get serious about Photography again. But when I did, I decided to get a better digital camera. I looked for a few months reading reviews and photo forums. I really wanted a good quality point and shoot camera. I decided on a Panasonic DMC FZ18. It is a 8 mega pixel camera . The Optics are really very good and the zoom is incredible. However....within a few weeks I was not satisfied with it. It had the lag time that most point and shoot cameras have. It is slow to process Raw Photos. Though I am really glad that it can shoot Raw Images, it is too slow to process  Raw files. I had to wait a few seconds between shots. And the image quality was just not what I wanted.
I still use this Panasonic Camera and it is still a great Point and Shoot Camera, I just wanted more.
So I went off the deep end and got the Canon 40D DSLR . Of course I researched for some time before I got it. I wanted a great camera. After reading reviews, holding most brands and seeing the features that they offered, The 40D won me over.
From the very first shot, I have been in Love with it. It takes awesome shots and the speed is amazing.
Now that I have my 40D, I am striving to be a better photographer.
I joined a photo club and that is really helpful. I go out taking photos almost everyday....Looking for the next great photograph. There are so many places that I want to travel to and take excellent photographs.
My passion is Photographing Nature and Wildlife, but I enjoy all forms of Photography.
I am so happy and grateful that I live on the Central Coast of California. There are so many wonderful people and places to photograph here.
I am learning more each day with each new photo that I shoot. Sometimes I get a little frustrated when I have made mistakes and lost a great shot, but not for long. I just keep on trying. The fact is that when I am out taking photographs, I Love it and I am truly happy. That alone, can keep me going out again the next time. I love to shoot and create  Photographs that others will really enjoy.