.. I was an active member of this community. Some 8 months I left the place and never came back to post anything, just was here two or three times to check for updates and what happened to my account and other deviants.

Now I decided to make an update and give a comeback to deviantart. Many things have changed during the last months and there is so much to tell you.

My blog at [link] is continuously updated .. so normally I write one entry every week since november 2008 - maybe that's another reason for my absence from dA.

After my summer trip to Vienna in July 2008 I had some relaxed months and enjoyed the rest of the summer. My EOS 350D took it's own holiday for more than half a year and rested in the bag .. and so did my two Olympus OMs. To be honest 2008 was not a photo year for me. After the summer trip I only did some long exposure shooting on the autumn fair (which turned out really nicely) and that was it for the rest of 2008. In October I celebrated my 27th birthday and started to became a driving instructor. Therefore i visited a course at the WIFI (special interest adult education) and made an exam at the federal state government. The exam took place on 10th of December and I made it without any problems.

Some weeks later I started to work in a driving school I was associated with before through my family. It's only beside my study, which is still my main activity, but it's a great job and money is really good . Around christmas I held my first course and started to give driving lessons. So far my students do well and most thought I'm doing this job for some years .. a good feeling to get such response.

Beside I bought some new hardware before christmas, assembled a new computer by myself and finally was ready for new stuff. My old machine was close to breakdown, so it was the logical decision to invest in a new monster .. and I'm fine with it so far. I also changed some things on my photo gear. First I sold the Sigma 10-20mm as it wasn't used very often and I never liked the results. In terms of photos, something great happened in 2009, but I'll tell you more on that later. University was goin good, got many very good marks and mostly did well at my seminars and still hope to finish my study until early 2010. So far it looks good. On poker I have to report some tournament wins in my favorit card casino and that I became a more or less successful cash game player, but actually think about quit with cash game, just stay with tournament poker and mostly play live. I prefer live action and just play online for fun. Still dreaming to work as a journalist for a poker magazine or somewhere in the media sector that deals with that game, but therefore I at least would have to move to Vienna or somewhere in Germany (like Hamburg or Cologne).

Now, some week ago, I was in Vienna again. Went there with Daniel and Bianca (he's one of my best friends and she's his girlfriend), this time by car. We went there for shopping and meeting friends. So I also met =Beachdair, ~Kirimaus and ~Schwachmaath again and visited many, many, many stores. We had a lot of fun and stayed from 9th to 12th February. On 10th we went to my favorite photo store (=Beachdair works there) and wanted to buy the Canon 35mm f2.0 lens. I also asked for some used stuff - which means I was looking for a new cam during the last weeks. Plans said 30D, 40D or maybe better - and I planed to get one until March or April .. but Lady Luck was good to me

To my surprise there was a used Canon 30D looking like brandnew, no scratches, no dust, .. looks like the pre-owner used it as a back-up or left it in a showcase .. and it was more than low priced .. so no question - 10 minutes after I got it in hands, it already was my property. So I know own a 30D and to be honest photography got interesting again - started to shoot much more during the past two weeks. So I prepare you for new photos here on dA and of course more updates on my blog. I can't guarantee many posts here on my journal, but maybe I'll do from time to time again now.

For now, I hope this one was not too long and I still have some watchers noticing I'm back .. new pictures will be added soon.

Best wishes,
Michael

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

deviants I met so far
~geek7, ~zero-, =Beachdair, ~muzkmkr, ~Woofenbarken, ~Kirimaus, ~narulein, ~black-Syla, ~Askhari, =Gothic-Nyu, =tfprince, =NorthPole76, ~northwulf, ~Schwachmaath, ~0v3n, ~Isyia, `Staged, ~BlackCore-RaiseHell, ~radiohat, ~apixx, ~alife, ~Corvi, ~gaiakiyarae, ~once-keen, ~shizophrenik, ~mitcharts, ~g3ri, ~grindL, !kinderschokolade, ~zort, ~schmetterbaum, ~no-shorty, ~menalie, ~Asphates, ~olMelpomenelo