My name is Eyal Oren (pronounce Ay-yal; it’s an Israeli name) and I’m 33 years old. I’m married with two little kids and we just moved to Marblehead, MA from Washington, DC. I’m an allergist and am finally finished with the med school/residency/fellowship training! I am in private practice in the North Shore of Massachusetts (about 20 minutes north of Boston).

No formal training... just lots of time spent shooting and getting/giving critiques in photography forums. Places like dgrin.com have been phenomenal growth opportunities.

I didn’t pick up my first camera until college when I was given a point-and-shoot as a birthday present. Took it a few years later on a trip through Israel and Europe before starting med school and found that I loved landscape photography. Before my son was born, I bought the Canon Digital Rebel in anticipation of many, many more photos. That was 3 years ago and my passion for photography has grown by leaps and bounds since.

Canon 350D. Lenses: Canon EF 50mm f/1.8, Canon EF 70-210mm f/3.5-4.5, Sigma 30mm f/1.4, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS.

Next up is a complete upgrade. Waiting on the next iteration of the 40D and need to start investing in some good glass.

My kids! Do I really need a reason??? The primary reason for going the dSLR-route was to be able to better capture my children’s lives and that has definitely panned out as planned. SmugMug currently holds about 3000 photos just of my 2 ½ year old son and 6 month old daughter.

Apart from their photos (and those of family and friends), my next great love remains landscape photography. I spent most of my free time in DC trying to capture that city’s great monuments and architecture. In Boston, I tend to shoot around the water – whether it’s the Charles River or, now, Salem Harbor. I plan on spending a good number of years to come photographing the whole of New England!

Dgrinners! I was a part of the Last Photographer Standing contest which took place this past year. The Dgrin members who took part in that contest, with new assignments every two weeks, pushed me and my photography faster and to a higher level than anyone else. Each member’s differing approach to a common theme served to widen my views of photography and showed me areas where I should concentrate and improve.

I signed up on January 28, 2006. This was after a brief time on other hosting sites. At first, I was thrilled to have unlimited online space to serve as a host to my photos and as online backup of my JPGs. I then graduated to Power user and am thrilled with the ability to customize the site. The integration with Adobe Lightroom makes uploads very easy. My favorite function has to be the ability to generate emails with my photo and allow that to link back to my gallery. I’ve sent out over 100 emails announcing updates to my galleries (for family members that haven’t figured out RSS feeds). I plan to move to Pro status in the next year and hope to start selling photos and digital downloads.

SmugMug has afforded me an easy yet professional method of presenting my photography. I expect that the business of selling photographs will be effortless and solid as all other aspects of SmugMug have been. I have never experienced the level of personal attention that SmugMug delivers on any other website and that has been the biggest benefit.

Photography is a wonderful medium for creative expression. It requires patience and absolute attention to detail but delivers incredible rewards. I would recommend starting with a simple 'kit' – whether it be a point and shoot with RAW and manual capability or a basic dSLR. Most cameras are more than adequate to launch photography as a serious hobby and it will take years to 'outgrow' that first system.