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While I don't think of myself as a professional photographer, I would eventually like to get to the point where I could. I've always been interested in the outdoors - particularly fascinated with Waterfalls since I was 5 or 6 - and I've always loved sharing the places I've seen and photographed. I've been taking pictures in some capacity or another for over a decade now (at least in the sense that I've known what I've been doing). Since about 2003 I've gotten very serious about my Landscape Photography about it and strive to constantly better my work every day I'm shooting. Though I don't have anything against the idea of blending multiple exposures into a single picture (as long as one is honest about the process), I have a big problem with the widespread adoption of HDR and Tone Mapping methodologies that I see being used by photographer these days. At its heart, the idea of HDR is valid and certainly provides multiple levels of flexibility above what one can achieve with the camera and filters alone. But when I see people shooting 8, 10, 12 exposures of one scene with (for example) a Canon 5D Mark II where a single exposure would have provided more than enough detail to work with, and then relying on automated software to produce detail in parts of the image where the eye itself wouldn't even perceive such levels of detail (which seems to very often result in other parts of the image looking extremely unrealistic), the only assumption I can make is these people just don't understand how to properly expose for what they're shooting, and I think continuing to pursue such a path will ultimately lead to one relying entirely too much on the computer to "make" an image, rather than learning how to "see" an image in the first place. This broad appeal for a "set it and forget it" where glossy, outlandish images are produced has become accepted I think for the same reason that your typical mindless Hollywood action flick has a broad appeal - its loud, shiny, flashy and allows one to become easily distracted. But there is almost never any substance. In addition to landscape photography, I am the founder of and currently operate the Northwest Waterfall Survey and the World Waterfall Database and am recognized as one of the worlds foremost authorities on the subject of waterfalls. I've worked as a consultant for renowned Japanese photographer Yoshikazu Shirakawa on his "Worlds 100 Greatest Waterfalls" project and I'm currently undertaking a project create the first comprehensive survey of the waterfalls on planet Earth.