I am Vandana Rajagopalan. I am 35 years old. I am a physician, a hematologist and medical oncologist working in a cancer center in Clovis, New Mexico. I moved from New York City to the southwest some two and half years back. I am an amateur photographer and photograph primarily to relax and to capture the natural beauty I see around me.

No formal training really. I did join New York Institute of Photography some years back. But I was also doing my Heme-Onc fellowship at the same time and never got the chance to 'graduate'. I do have their booklets that I often read for some basic concepts. I have learned mostly from very good and friendly photographers giving me advice all the time - mostly on SmugMug.

I have been shooting every day to some extent at least for the two years or so. I bought my first Nikon SLR - a D70 in 2004. I started out with photography wanting to take better travel and vacation pictures. I had gone to Alaska in 2001 or so and returned with terrible pictures of a beautiful place. I wanted to do a better job!

I have been practicing as a medical oncologist for the last 2+ years. That may coincide with when I started shooting everyday. My job can be quite stressful at times. A day when I have to come home from work after telling a 32 year old she may not have long to live, I have to pick up a camera and shoot something... so I can get back to work the next day, hoping for some better news. I think photography decreases oncologist burnout. The good days, I shoot for sheer joy.

I shoot with a Nikon D300 now, upgraded 2 months back from a D200. I have a 18-70mm wide angle, a fisheye, a 60mm micro-Nikkor, a 300mm f4, a 1.4 and a 1.7 TC. I also have a Nikon 200-400mm, but often find it very heavy. It is absolutely wonderful to shoot with but it's almost 10% of my body weight! I take it to bird-dense areas like Bosque in New Mexico. I don't think I need more gear right now. I just want to be able to use my gear better than I am doing now.

My favorite subjects to photograph are birds, wildlife and sometimes bugs and macro. You won't find too many people shots in my portfolio. I often see such deep emotions at work that I feel I can never capture that with a lens. Shooting birds, wildlife and macro gives me a very different world where I can stare with childlike wonder and renew myself. My most favorite place to photograph is Bosque Del Apache national wildlife refuge in New Mexico. Between Nov to Feb every year, there are thousands of migratory birds there, noisy and beautiful.

Ginger, the creek lady, Harry Behret, Ken Conger, Nonda Surratt. Their photographs of birds and wildlife in their wild and natural surroundings are just beautiful. It's more than a mega-close up portrait of wildlife. It's a relationship with nature.

Since Feb 26, 2005. 3 years growing up with SmugMug! I love the unlimited storage, the community spirit in SmugMug and dgrin; The support staff is awesome. They make it look so easy - having a decent looking website with thousands of photographs! I have made some wonderful friends in SmugMug, met a few as well! I am liking SmugMug's collaboration with blurb books and fotoflot as well. I have gotten our cancer center some fotoflots and blurb books. Our patients can now browse through some pretty pictures while getting their chemotherapy. It relaxes them, I think it can be therapeutic...

I have family and friends spread across some continents, my parents live in India, my brother in Spain. Often between busy schedules and time differences, we often catch up through my smugmug pictures posted daily! SmugMug has connected me with some wonderful photographers who share my interests. I have learned a lot here, with people dropping by and leaving critiques and comments on my pictures.

Shoot what makes you happy.