Frédéric Dantzer

Engineer working for French civil aviation authority.
I remember having a Kodak Disc as a kid but never really made anything really interesting with it.
In 2006 my first digital camera was a Canon PowerShot A610, essentially purchased to take pictures of our children. So I point and clicked for a couple of years gathering memories. Around 2010 I offered my wife a Nikon D5000 geared with a Nikkor 18-35 and a Sigma 70-300 so she could shoot macro. I tried it and it was catastrophic, so it spent quite some time in the cupboard and I sticked to my PowerShot. Then I bought an iPhone (3GS, 7 and now 11) and the PowerShot retired in the cupboard.
In 2023, during a trip to Kathmandu, I filled my iPhone with great memories and I discovered what photography really means: it is not just about gathering memories, it can also convey emotions and tell stories. Back from Kathmandu, I met a professional photographer who introduced me to post processing, on iPhone. That’s when it all started! I started taking shots of the place I live in, with my iPhone 11. But shooting on iPhone ends up being quite boring so back to the D5000, and in order to make good shots, let’s try to understand how it works.
After quite some searching on internet, I discovered the photographylife.com web site and read plenty of tutorials and articles, many times each. I was then fortunate enough to borrow a Nikon D600 and a D3S geared with the golden f2.8 trilogy from 14 to 200mm. And I shot again and again. And I failed a lot of shots, but sometimes it turned out right. I hated the 14-24 and I loved the 70-200. But it was not my own gear so I thought about buying my own gear. After some time of reflection (18 months), a lot of reviews read and many options assessed (Nikon Reflex - D750, D780 and D850, Nikon hybrid Z6, Z7 and siblings), owing to great rebates, I finally bought my own gear in January 2025, a Nikon Z6ii and a Nikkor Z24-200. And during the past 12 months I took thousands of shots with it, landscape, wildlife, macro (thanks to the Viltrox DG-Z tube extension), sunset, sunrise, moon, portrait, night shot, etc. with a very low keeping rate, that yet keeps slowly increasing.
During the last 3 years I have been sharing my favorite shots on my Facebook and Instagram accounts. Not many followers, some shots get a few dozens views, others at least one, thanks to close friends. By the way, one thing I learned a lot from is the settings used to shoot the photos shared in articles. That is why I always share my own settings when I share a photo.
Today I just want to keep shooting, increase my skills, get new lenses, read a lot of articles, try new photography genres, and maybe someday make a living out of my passion.