In true Robbish form, I debated with myself for such a long time about what I should do for my first official “blog” post that I was getting nowhere fast.  The thing is, in some ways I’ve already been blogging on my photo website, but the format of that site is really much better suited for images rather than text, so I’m going to start with just moving some things I’ve already written from my photo site to here, and possibly updating them or adding more photos to go with them, just so I can break the seal and get things flowing.  Besides, I figure there’s a good chance that anybody who comes across this blog hasn’t even seen (let alone read) any of the captions I wrote on the photo site. So, to start things off, here’s my bio from robcorpuz.com.

Born and raised in bleak, frigid Honolulu, I finally managed to escape the horrible weather and currently reside in Moscow, Russia (although I do return now and then to bring a little ray of sunshine to my poor, shivering family back home in Hawai’i). Along the way I’ve stumbled through over thirty countries in various travels.

In the “wild” I can be spotted fairly easily: camera clutched firmly in hand, pressed up against squinting eyes, big photo backpack hanging from slumped shoulders, and a slow, lumbering gait. Approach with caution, as I am usually hungry.

In April, 2007, I acquired my first SLR camera and have rarely been seen without one since. If you’re curious about the gear I use, see below, but as most photographers know (and I’ve seen first-hand through my own incompetence), the only part of the camera that really matters is the eye looking into the viewfinder, and having fancy equipment means absolutely nothing if you don’t know how to use it. I’m still learning that bit, and I plan to continue doing so until my camera and I are finally buried someday–I wouldn’t be surprised if I eventually die by tripping and falling off a cliff (or a curb) while trying to compose a shot.

I’ve read somewhere that one big difference between a good photographer and a bad photographer is that a good photographer only shows his or her very best shots. If I followed that mantra exactly, I fear there wouldn’t be a whole lot to see on this website, so in the interests of me getting better, since you’ve gotten this far, feel free to give me some constructive criticism by leaving your comments in the guestbook or on individual photos.

Some say that a photo should speak for itself, and while I’d agree that it should always be immediately clear WHY a photo was taken, if I see a great shot I nearly always want to know how, where, and when was it taken, and often a bit more about who or what is the focus of the shot. Even moving pictures need words from time to time, so I think it’s all right for stills to do the same. So, for anyone out there who feels the same way, I’ll sometimes add captions that give technical details and tell the stories behind the photos. While a good picture may paint a thousand words, sometimes you need a few more to really tell the whole story.

Thanks for reading and looking, and if you’d like to contact me, please click here.

To learn even more about me and what I’ve been up to the last few years, please check out my PHOTO DIARY, which contains a bunch of old snapshots of me and a few of the (hopefully) amusing stories behind them.

Aloha, Rob.

P.S. Here’s that list of gear I promised: These days, whichever camera bag I grab (Thinktank, Lowepro, Kata, or Delsey) contains an assortment of the following: Canon 5d II, 16-35mm f/2.8, 50mm f/1.4, 100mm f/2, 70-200mm f/4 IS, 1.4X converter, four working speedlites (two 600EX-RT, one 580 EX II and one 430 EX), Radiopopper PX/JRX triggers (which replaced a set of Cybersyncs), Orbis ring and other assorted light modifiers (LumiQuest, Honl and Westcott), Gitzo 1541 Traveller tripod with Markins Q3 ballhead and plate, Manfrotto Nano 5001B stand (along with a couple of Manfrotto clamps), Induro MC-25 monopod, and a Joby SLR Zoom Gorillapod. I also keep a generic set of studio strobes, softboxes, grids and gels in my studio (aka living room). However, many of the shots on this site were taken with a Canon 400D (Rebel XTi), a Tamron 18-250mm, a Sigma 10-20mm, and the nifty 50mm 1.8, and even now a few of my favorite snaps came from a couple of old Canon point-n-shoot digicams.