Today, we turn the focus back on you, our readers, to get a better feel of who’s out there and what you’re up to. With all the great photography going on out there, and photo-sharing sites like “Flickr”, the times have never been better (or easier) to share with the world what you all are up to (photographically speaking of course).

Today we’re focusing on Dave Pinter. Dave hails from Brooklyn, New York and was both kind enough to send in some additional suggestions for our “Photographing the Auto Show” blog, and also gracious enough to agree to be “e-interviewed”.

Dave has photography in his blood and also has some interesting uses for his Nikon DSLR!

(all images ©Dave Pinter)

Hi Dave, tell us a little about who you are and where you come from:

…Originally from Cleveland Ohio, now living in Brooklyn NY. Photography runs in my family. My dad has a background in medical photography and runs his own studio and lab in Cleveland. He used to manage a large photo department for a hospital. So as a kid I spent time helping process film and mounting slides on weekends.

Wow, what a great introduction for a kid to photography. What’s your vocation?

I’ve been working as an environmental designer specializing in retail for 12 years. Currently with Grid2 International based in NYC. Part of my job has always included documenting stores, showrooms, and exhibits. Technically it’s spy work so I’ve been escorted out of a lot places by grumpy security guards.

What type of gear do you use for such interesting assignments?

I’ve always tried to keep my gear compact. I carry my camera with me all the time. Currently I’m shooting with a Nikon D80. I’ve stuck with the Nikkor 18-135mm but I’m going upgrade to a VR lens in a few days. Most of my stealth shooting is done with a cable release in my pocket and the camera hung around my neck. This way I can walk around and shoot and no one knows. I usually tape the flash down because I’ve forgotten to switch it off in the past and gotten busted because it fired.

Ha, that could be embarrassing (to say the least, in an understandably more paranoid environment)! Nice set-up though..

(Dave’s Gear)

I’m mac based and use a combination of iPhoto and Adobe Bridge to manage files. I’ve set up some custom Photoshop actions. Using Bridge is nice because I can streamline organizing and batch process from within the application. A lot of folks have bashed Bridge/Version Cue but I’ve found they save a lot of time.

Macs are my favorites. I haven’t been using Bridge too much (our buddy BadDog says I should be), as I’ve been using i-View for a long time, but I will have to do a little more exploring with Bridge. It’s hard to beat anything coming out of Adobé right now.

What do you do with your photographs, Dave?

Currently I’m posting and contributing photography to PSFK.com. The site’s aim is to inspire readers to make change to make things better.

So part of what we look at are folks who are doing innovative interesting things. I cover mostly design topics; architecture, transportation, consumer products. I regularly feature site visits of new and innovative retail stores. Last year PSFK teamed up with Business Week to cover the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in New York. Business Week’s online review featured a gallery of photos I shot at the show (check it out here). We’ll probably try and arrange that again this year.

PSFK is a really cool web-site. I’d encourage any readers who are interested in design, branding and innovation (as well as photography ) to check it out (click here).

The association with Business Week is very cool and, obviously, following your own advice for show-photography really pays off in your great images.

(A Lamborghini gets it’s bottom scraped off)

Sometimes shooting can be incredibly frustrating. But there is a lot of inspiring work being created. I think sites like flickr and Slightly Out of Focus are a great resource to stumble on new creative uses of the medium. I think the interest in photography has grown enormously because of the internet. It’s also inspiring to see people who create great photographs without using a $5,000 DSLR. My three year old niece took some pretty amazing portraits over the holiday with a simple digital point and shoot. She’s already a camera junkie.

The Internet and Photography is huge. We’ll be seeing things happening that, not only we could have dreamed-of in the upcoming years, but stuff we never could have imagined.

It’s wonderful when a 3-year old can be handed a camera and with no-restrictions, can run around and take great photos. It’s hard to imgine what your Niece’s generation will do with this when they’re grown-ups. I totally agree, it doesn’t take a mega-buck camera to take great pictures, talk about the Democratizing of Photography, this is it.

We try and keep our readers informed and show them low-dollar ways of creating the shots, and Flickr is an incredible community of a great number of very talented people (like Dave!).

Anything else you’d like to add?

Thanks to Jim for the airtime on ‘Slightly Out of Focus’. I found the site randomly searching for photo technique tips. I landed on the post for shooting tips when attending an auto show, its a good read.

Thank You, Dave, it was definitely our pleasure, also thanks for your helpful suggestions and for taking the time to chat with us!

We’d really encourage you to check out Dave’s Flickr site (click here) and also PSFK.com . Looking at his photography and using his tips can help you get more from your DSLR.