My deviantART Story

I'm sure I've told this story before on a number of occasions but oh well you get to read it again... assuming anyone still follows my page.

I joined dA on October 11th, 2003 almost 11 years ago. However i had been lurking for about a month or so before i joined stalking Ikue's page. I had just started working as a photographer for a local hotel and thought that in joining I might be able to pick a few photographers brains on tips to improve my work. Well Ikue is the one that suggested I join and after some thought I started trying to come up with a username. I knew i was only going to be posting photos so I wanted something camera related and searched the internet for nicknames of photographers and found "shutterbug" obviously by this time that name was already taken but I liked "shutter" and I used to refer to myself as "monkey" on MSN and AIM at the time so I joined the two and got "shuttermonkey" a name I've grown to love and use a lot.

My start on dA was kind of rocky, I didn't post much and what ever I did post didn't get much attention. That changed when I stumbled into the Forums and found ways to get advice and critiques on my works. I didn't find my true place on dA though until dAmn was introduced.

In 2005 I discovered dAmn and found my way into the then #thumbshare chat room and fell in love and not only found a place to share my work, get noticed and get critiques but i made some very close friends which led to me joining the Thumbshare team in early 2007. I loved moderating the chat room and planning events and spent almost every free minute i had on dAmn. This led me into the #devart which I at first was nervous about because i thought that was where the "cool" people hung out and didn't think i'd fit in. Much to my surprise I loved it and it became my second home on dAmn. From there i got involved with the :#help: chat room and team and met a whole slew of awesome people!

On July 14th, 2008 I woke up to find that I had been given a ` (made a senior) and I was shocked and so excited. Then on August 21st, 2008 I was asked to join the then Message Network Operator team (MN@) and i was elated. I took the volunteer team seriously and poured myself into the community just like I had before. I spent almost 4 years volunteering and saw the team shift to Community Volunteers and got to mentor alot of newbie volunteers and make loads of friends until saldy real life took over.

Unfortunately now my free time is limited and I tend to spend it away from the computer. But there is always this pull the brings me back to dA and dAmn. It is like my online home I still pop in on dAmn from time to time and though i wish I had more time for it, I still have my memories.

I big hug and love ya to my dA family you guys are all the best!!!



beeZah recreated one of my photographs and i think its absolutely wonderful!