Finally Joining an Amazing Site!

[MarkSmith]

Hello all, this is Mark Smith. My apologies for not joining sooner, as I seem to have been e-mailing Jools and Mats for some time now without having joined formally. Why didn't you guys bug me more about that!

Clearly, Planetcatfish has no equal in the world, and it is a priveledge to be able to submit photos to this site, and more importantly, to continuously learn more and more about a fascinating order of fishes.

My wife, Marmie, and I currently reside in the city of Murrieta, California, located in the southern part of the state, approximately half way between Los Angeles and San Diego, and about 30 miles east of the Pacific coast.

I've had to scale down on my fish keeping, but currently maintain cichlids such as Steatocranus gibbiceps, S. sp Red Eye, Tilapia joka, Pelmatochromis buettikoferi, Pseudotropheus undescribed species from Mozambique first collected by Charles Kacireck a few years ago, and Pseudotropheus sp. Msobo. Non-cichlids would included Sandelia capensis, two undescribed Melanotaenia species, Chromobotia macracantha, Microctenopoma ansorgii, and the only catfish I am presently maintaining - Synodontis multipunctatus. I am hoping to get my hands on some L82 someday, as that is my favorite Loricariid thus far.

Of course, I'm always on the lookout to photo new or unusual catfish as time permits, and when and as I do, I'll be sure to have them added to PlanetCatfish.

Mark

[MatsP]

Mark, it's nice to have you here. If nothing else, for the very selfish reason that I don't have to re-post your replies to someone else's discussion about the identity of some fish... ;)

But I'm sure your depth of knowledge of fish and photography will be of benefit to many of the members here.

--
Mats

[MarkSmith]

Thanks Mats, I'll try my best, and enjoy learning all sorts of new information daily.

[The.Dark.One]

I've got to say Mark that your photographs and the fish in them are excellent.

[MatsP]

Also, I've asked Jools to connect your user name to the contributor identity of "Mark Smith" so that when your posts, you'll have "Images: 194" in the info block on the right.

--
Mats

[MarkSmith]

Thanks Dark One! There is always room to improve. Great, thanks on that one Mats!

[Richard B]

Warmest of welcomes Mark

[Dave Rinaldo]

Welcome Mark!

I was curious how you came upon the species of fish you have photographed.

Not the usual LFS stock! Great!!

Images contributed by Mark Smith

[corybrummie2010]

Welcome to planetcatfish Mark,loved the photos you have taken

[MarkSmith]

Thanks guys! Dave, to answer your question, all the images so far posted have been taken across the country in the past 20 years at various wholesalers and in friends tanks, as well as my own. Over such a time period, the photos just seem to pile up. Photo tanks have been utilized for a majority of the images taken.

[Shane]

Welcome Mark. Good to have you here.
-Shane

[Jools]

Also, I've asked Jools to connect your user name to the contributor identity of "Mark Smith"

Ask and ye shall receive. 'Tis done.

Mark,

This post brought a smile to my face, welcome aboard the good ship PlanetCatfish it's our pleasure to have a another big time fish guy among us. Thank you for your kind words about the site.

Cheers,

Jools

[The.Dark.One]

I've always wondered how you get them to pose on top of the bogwood. Either lots of patience or superglue?

[Gordon C. Snelling]

Mark welcome from your neighbor to the north in Apple Valley, I believe we have a mutual friend in Art North.

[MarkSmith]

Thanks Jools, and thanks again for creating such a temenduous site!

Hi Gordon, I had no idea you knew Art North. As you know, he husbands some pretty interesting fishes. My favorite of his is a 23 cm long Tetraodon duboisi!

[MatsP]

My favorite of his is a 23 cm long Tetraodon duboisi!

Someone ought to tell the maintainer of this site:
http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/ug. ... T_Duboisi/
as they have a max size of less than half that.

--
Mats

[MarkSmith]

Fascinating, isn't it! All the literature says 10 cm for T. duboisi. This may be due to not having very many specimens to work with when it was originally described. Art North also has another one that is about 12 cm. Both of his T. duboisi he has had for 5 years, and they are likely both full grown, making me assume that the size difference may be a sexual matter, with the larger one perhaps being the female and the smaller one the male.

[wrasse]

Hello Mark and welcome.
I took a look at some of your photos - very nice indeed. And... Leptodoras Jurensis... I've not seen that before! A freaky looking catfish, I'll have to hunt that one down!

[The.Dark.One]

Hello Mark and welcome.
I took a look at some of your photos - very nice indeed. And... Leptodoras Jurensis... I've not seen that before! A freaky looking catfish, I'll have to hunt that one down!

There was one in Aquaflight in Leyland a week or two ago, but it was in very bad shape when it arrived.

[MarkSmith]

Hi Wrasse

Yes, a very interesting catfish. I only was it once several years ago. I have not seen this species exported since.

[2wheelsx2]

Awesome Mark. I keep seeing credits in your name for photos, but did not see you as a user here. Glad to have you onboard.

[bronzefry]

Your photos are fabulous. You must be patient to get those shots. Welcome aboard!
Amanda

[MarkSmith]

Thanks 2Wheelsx2 and Amanda.

It has definitely taken many years of practise, not to mention many bad photos taken, to get to a reasonable level of photography which started in 1984.

[MatsP]

not to mention many bad photos taken

I was going to suggest something like that, but I do know there are some people , who [when it was film] got 30+ _good_ shots out of a 36 frame roll of film, and of course to any of those people it would be rude to suggest that "lots of shots" is a solution to any difficulty in getting the shot right. I'm nowhere near that level, and I'm quite happy for the digital revolution in cameras. It makes it possible to take several dozen photos and get one or two good ones. I'm not saying quantity is a replacement for skill - absolutely no way, but the ability to "try it and see what it looks like" is very good - you can at the very least see that it went wrong and you can try again. With the old film, you either had to rely on luck, or take several shots "just in case".

Part of the learning process is knowing "when the shot looks <this> way, the fix is to..."

Of course, fish that are "good models" also help!

--
Mats

[2wheelsx2]

Yeah, a well behaving subject is nice, but not absolutely necessary, as long as you have the right setup and some patience, as long as it's in a captive environment.

I found it comical in a recent amateur photo contest I entered where someone mentioned that it's "easy" to get a good photo of a pleco (they didn't specify pleco specifically, but mentioned a subject that doesn't move), and that a good photo is not based on a nice fish. That kind of left me scratching my head a little. Seems to me a good photo not only requires some skill with a camera, but some skill in choosing a nice subject to photograph.

[MatsP]

I found it comical in a recent amateur photo contest I entered where someone mentioned that it's "easy" to get a good photo of a pleco (they didn't specify pleco specifically, but mentioned a subject that doesn't move), and that a good photo is not based on a nice fish.

Yeah, there are some people who think that photographing plecos, synos, or other fish is "easy", and I guess it's a relative term.

In any photo competition type situation, it's mostly about convincing the judges that you have a good photo - and that depends on the experience of the judge. At the photo forum that I take some part in (http://www.dphoto.us), I have entered fish in the "weekly challenge" from time to time, and if I get one vote, I'm jumping up and down with joy. That's despite me thinking the photo is a great.

I'm sure you've taken/seen enough motorcycle photos to appreciate this one:


But those not familar with photographing motorcycles may not think that much of it.... [And yes, it's scanned from a negative, so pre-digital]

--
Mats

[2wheelsx2]

Did you take that one? Nice shot. And confident riding too, to look away from the turn....I know I couldn't do it. Funny that you should bring up motorcycle photography. I missed my claim to fame when I did Laguna Seca on my K75S about 6 years ago. We were doing a CLASS course and there was an awesome pro photog there shooting photos. Everyone had awesome photos of themselves except me....the reason was that my "plum" coloured BMW was confounding the sensor on his Nikon and the shots were all either over or under exposed. The only decent shot of me was one with my back to the camera entering the Corkscrew dragging my exhaust pipe and centerstand (yes I left that on as I was touring to San Francisco and back with my wife and luggage the next morning).

[MatsP]

Yup, I'm the photographer, and this shot was on the last lap of a 6hr Endurance race, and the team had already secured a win [by some 2-3 laps over second place] in the class (and overall, as they were in the "bigger/faster" 1000cc class), so the rider could do a quick glance over to me before continuing on to the finishing line. The shop where the rider is sales manager had some 24" x 30" "posters" made up from my photos of the event.

I was more impressed by the ability to ride around not looking where they were going with the instructors of California Superbike School - they would sit there in front of you, doing "keep opening the gas" hand-signals with the left hand, and looking at you to see that you were doing that, whilst going round the corners... That's a few skill levels above my 20 track-days.... ;)

--
Mats

[2wheelsx2]

Yes, I've done Keith Code also (at Road Atlanta) but I did the 125 GP school. My instructor turned around in the middle of a curve to wave to me to close up on him. This was back in the mid 90's. My friend who went to the same course one year earlier was coached by none other than Ben Spies on a 125. Yes, that Ben. At the time, my friend thought, who is this 15 year old punk teaching me to ride?

Sorry, Mark, for hijacking your thread. Old men and their motorcycle talk.

[MarkSmith]

No problem guys. Interesting to see other folks' interest.