NOVEMBER 2009 FEATURED PHOTOGRAPHER   MAIK DUWENSEE Bio 1. your name My full name is Maik Duwensee. (that is all I have to offer, not short for anything, no middle name, we didn't have much money :) ) My first name is pronounced "Mike", so people have the tendency to call me Michael, what is wrong (to expensive). However it doesn't really bother me. But you wouldn't believe what happens when people who not know how to say my first name try on their own. :) 2. any aliases? When I grew up my friends called me "Duwi" (DooWee). It is basically some shortening of my last name. Here in the US people just call me "Mike". 3. how did you get into photography? I always liked it. So one day I decided to buy an SLR, saved up the necessary money and spent it all on a Canon. Since then I have been enjoying to take pictures. That was roughly 16 years ago. I stuck with my first camera until it stopped working. By then there was ebay and I bought a better one for less then half the price. Initially, I shot color slides only. It was cheaper to have slides, and the colors are so much nicer. 3 years ago (13 years after purchasing my 1st SLR) I took a basic B&W photo class in San Diego. ... I got hooked. The university down their maintains a 24/7 darkroom on campus, and I lived in walking distance. Entering the "darkside" at 11pm and leaving at 3am happened frequently. I always enjoyed (and still do) taking pictures of people, preferably when they don't notice that someone is pointing a lens at them. These photographs make nice gifts, especially some time after they were taken. When I moved to the bay area the hobby was on hold for some time, new job, no darkroom ... But then I heard about "The Darkroom at Debug" .... and Maik was back in business. :) 4. what's your most favorite picture? Even though I like to take pics of people, the one I am most proud of shows the San Diego skyline by night. The picture was taken on a very cold night in San Diego. I drove to Coronado and took a picture of San Diego Downtown at night. It was the first time I "really" played with long time exposure. It turned out nicely. 5. where do you find inspiration for your photos? Wow, heavy question. I guess I just like to take pictures. I experiment a lot and the ideas come "on the fly" ... at least as long as my friends and/or my beautiful girlfriend are not getting annoyed. 6. what do you like about the darkroom? Most of all? That it exists. 7. how do you see yourself growing within the area of photography? I like film, and it is nice to create a nice print with my hands and not my computer. I work in High-Tech, so it really helps me to relax. Where do I want to go? I would really like to become confident with Studio photography, so I bought some used beginner studio strobe lights on craigslist ... We will see how that works out. The ultimate goal (of course) is being able to "capture the moment" as often as possible. 8. any shout-outs? PLEASE KEEP THE DARKROOM.