Ralph, Thank you so much for organizing this! Here goes!
Q. Filip (Filip) asks… Al. as a discus breeder/seller, SD forum owner and an aquatic-supplier owner how do you have time to work other jobs to make a living or is this your dream job come true?
A. Hi Filip, That's a good question. I started out as a biologist with a full time lab job and The forum was small then. Heres a super old pic, I even have some hair in it!
ALLAB3
I've always been lucky in having many good moderators to help, even back then and really could not run the place well today without the team we have here. Back then I was able to hold a normal job. I can't see that happening today. The forum is just too big and requires too much of my involvement even with the great staff here. I suppose I could be an absentee owner, as is how many forums are, but that doesn't work in the long run. If you want a forum to grow, you have to be involved. Someone has to guide it, someone has to deal with the inevitable problems and someone has to dump their heart into it. That's my “job”.
Back to your question. I don't have a conventional job these days. I do many things to make a living. AquaticSuppliers is just one aspect of it all. But I also consult for school age children programs on nature and science. I do various side jobs to make ends meet. Its not easy but I have a pretty diverse background. You may notice me scarce from time to time here depending on what I am doing. Some of my hats are forum owner/admin , discus breeder, fish food seller, educator, computer tech, painter, landscaper, lumberjack. but by far my favorite hat the last 12 years, has been Primary Caregiver for our two kids.
Q. Don Ellenberger (Don in Virginia) asks… Al, you've alluded in the past to some background in biology, I think. Lab work of some kind. Can you tell us what your experience has been in biology, and how that's reflected in your work with discus?
A. Hi Don, Sure can. After earning my a business degree, and working as an Architectural Hardware consultant I left that field and went back to school. I started out with great dreams of being a wildlife biologist and so pursued a degree in that. I didn't go to a fancy college , paid my way through a State University. I took every biology course I could. Botany(plants), Entomology(Insects), mycology(fungi),zoology(animals), Ornithology (birds)and of course micro & genetics etc., Did very well , and graduated with dream degree, and not a job in sight! I did intern for several years in entomology and forest pathology. The field of my dreams was just that...in my dreams. So I decided to start applying to biotech and big pharma. I finally got a job as an animal care tech for Bayer Pharmaceuticals. Not quite what I wanted but I did get to work in biology abit. An opportunity soon came to work with a biotech company that specialized in Diabetes Research as Research Scientist. It was a small company and great to work for . Not everyday you get a chance to be involved in cutting edge technology and research trying to cure a debilitating disease like diabetes. I worked with some top notch people and learned everything I know about the scientific process there. Don asked how it its reflected in my work with Discus? I draw on my background as a Natural History Biology major all the time. I still consider myself a Natural History Biologist and my library is chock full on the subject. But then the lab experience has given me the analytic background to look “experiments” and observations here objectively and critically. Looking back...I have had the best of both worlds there.
My science background really defines much about who I am and how I look at things.. Its where articles like this..
http://www.simplydiscus.com/library/...apeworms.shtml come from
and Images like this...(old pic!)
whole1a
4
As a Natural History Guy I can't pass up opportunities to study anything out there, which is why my camera is always with me. Never know when you will see something that you may never see again or that most people have never seen...Like these bats mating..
_IGP1172a_01
Q. Ralph Ciardullo (Altum Nut) asks… Al, we have noticed that you are very handy in capturing images with photography. When did the interest first catch your attention and what are some of your most prized photos both wild life and/or still objects you care to share with us.
A. A. Hi Ralph. I started taking pictures back when I was going to college for Biology. It was to document what I was seeing on field journeys. I was pretty bad at it, but I kept up and I read a lot. There were no forums so it needed to be learned by books and trial and error. Birds required special gear I expanded to carry a camera and bigger lenses and tripods. Over the years I have gotten in all aspects of photography, not just to document but creative as well. My assortment of gear has expanded... My field backpack weighs close to 50 lbs. at this point!!! I have smaller packs that I will use as well... but if I go anywhere on vacation that big pack comes with me. That may sound like I am a professional , I am definitely not. I just like taking pictures and I have been doing this so long that I have collected much gear. I hate having it sit unused and I enjoy using it. Even old gear is special to me. I've never been concerned with being published in a magazine, but I would like to work on selling my images. That's a down the road project. I do have images that stand out in my mind and that I am very fond of for one reason or another. Its something I like about taking pictures. A picture takes you back to when you took it. Even the worst picture is more vivid than our memories decades down the road. My kids even are into photography now... they had cameras in hand as soon as they could walk. We go out shooting together a lot, they use Pentax just like their old man.
As requested....
_IGP0115a
_IGP0259_01a
mature_nightheron
IMGP2409
IMGP1999_pentax
_IGP0381
drops
I also like to play around with my images in photo editing software...
tricolor_heron_art1
tricolor_heron_art4
Night_heron_art1