Lord Vetinari, SmugMug, and You

Brian Valentine aka "Lord Vetinari" is an accomplished Macrophotographer who showcases his work on his SmugMug site. We are fortunate to have him as a SmugMug Artist-in-Residence.

Strange nickname, fascinating photographer

Brian is an early-retired PhD Microbiologist living in Worthing South Coast, UK.

In his own words, "Retirement enabled me to re-kindle my interest in photography combined with affordable digital SLRs. Bought my first DSLR in Dec 2004—a canon 300D together with a Sigma 105mm Ex macro lens. I have since expanded this with a Canon 20D and the king of macro lenses, a Canon MPE-65."

"I have been able in those two years to learn quite a lot about the practical aspects of macrophotography which is my main photographic interest, and also enjoy making bits for the camera rigs where I can. The DIY parts have tended to be modified flash brackets, flash diffusers (my current one is made from two coke cans) and bits to stick lenses together."

"Virtually all the shots I take are in my garden. I'm a keen gardener and as I also keep pond fish (Koi), I have not used insecticide in my garden for many years. This has resulted in a little haven for insects which I love watching and photographing."

"The name LordV takes a little bit of explaining but I used to do a lot of internet PC forum stuff and wanted a name to show I was British, I'm also a Terry Pratchett Discworld book fan and much admire the character Lord Vetinari. So I used that as my Nick. As I have a fairly bad memory for names I continued using this on various forums until I ran into the problem that someone was already using it, so I simply shortened it to LordV."

Get inside a microbiologist-turned-photographer's head

In addition to his garden, Brian hangs out on Digital Grin, our photography forum. He gives plenty of Macro tips and happily helps photographers like YOU with technique. You can even catch Brian in a monthly round table discussion.