Charles M. Herskowitz, age 39 and I attended New York University. I live and work in Durham, NC (the Bull City, hence the web site name SnortingBullPhoto.com. I get asked all the time. ) as part-time sports photographer and part-time entrepreneur for my other business The Workout Watch (workoutwatch.com).

Heavy photography classes ever since I did pinhole shooting and developing in 4th grade!

It seems like all my life but I clearly remember starting in grade school as one of our teachers took us on photography field trips and we were allowed makeshift dark room time with our 110 cameras. I got my first “nice” SLR after high school (which I still have someplace) and I’ve been shooting ever since.

The Nikon D3 with the Nikon 70-200/2.8 and Nikon 24-70/2.8 is my go to gear for cycling photography. In the off season I shoot as much college sports as possible being so close to Duke and UNC and I’ll generally use the Nikon 200-400/4 for football or the 70-200/2.8 for basketball. Occasionally I’ll shoot the Carolina Hurricanes and I’ve been pleased with the 70-200 but I’ll also pack the Nikon 200/2 despite being a prime it’s hard to beat for AF speed and bokeh. When I’m not shooting sports I enjoy traveling and the Nikon 12-24/4 was my primary travel lens but recently sold and swapped it for the Nikon 14-24/2.8. Up next in the bag will hopefully be a D3X if announced this year and an AF-S version of the 50mm/1.4.

Without a doubt the French countryside and the Tour de France… I love the sport and the scenery. Following the Tour around France is a great way to see the country and towns that you might never know existed and there’s always a photo opportunity. You just have to somehow reign in the desire to stop for a constant capture since the Tour is always moving with or without you!

Graham Watson as the premier cycling photographer. For a LONG time it was very difficult to follow cycling in the US. Graham always managed to use his camera to show the world the excitement and passion of the sport BEFORE there was the internet. How did we survive?

I actually had to look in my control panel for this answer since it seems that I can’t remember life before SmugMug! I’ve been a member since June 2005 and I still enjoy just how easy SmugMug has made it for me to sell my work. Being able to easily customize my web site, give it a really sharp and professional feel while still maintaining the core ability to easily sell images and my services.

The less time I spend dealing with uploading, pricing, gallery creation, selling, etc. directly equates to more time I have to spend in the field. SmugMug has made all of this easy and continues to improve… top notch reliability and customer service and I couldn’t be happier. I’m still amazed when I get email responses from SmugMug customer service almost as soon I hit send.

There’s no need to invest in a lot of expensive gear. Starting with a good camera that allows for manual control and taking some basic classes will go a long way. Take LOTS and LOTS of pictures (and then take some more) and use the EXIF information to learn and adapt.