Who is 'Akinom'? First let me say thank you to the members of R'osity who gave their vote to me in this competition. Also thanks to those members who voted for the other nominees, they deserved it as well. They are all excellent artists who inspired me for so long. My name is Monika. I'm married and my hubby is a member at R'osity too (CAD-MAN). I live in Germany in the town Mannheim, which is near to the very famous German town Heidelberg, many of you may know it. My mother tongue is German so please be patient with my inadequate English. My profession is engineer for civil constructions but I don't run it since both of my kids were born. Currently I am a full-time housewife with a couple of honorary positions. I don't see me like an artist I'm just passionate photographer. How long have you been rendering/doing computer graphics/photography? The first cam I got as a gift from my boyfriend when I was about 20 yrs. He was a passionate photographer and when we went out for a walk he always had his cam with him He was afraid it could be boring for me and so he handed me this gift. Perhaps you can imagine this was the start of my love...both to my boyfriend (later my hubby) and to the photography...and it still lasts on after 30 years. It had been a very simple pocket cam, but I learned a lot from my hubby about photography, using a cam and shooting... and very fast I wanted a better one. In the first years I always used his old cameras when he bought himself a new one. So my first real cam was an Asahi Pentax, later on I've used several Minoltas. We both loved to travel around the world and you sure can imagine we needed tons of films. When our two children were born those journeys to far countries ended. But I loved to take photos of my kids instead. I've also learned to appreciate my surrounding.. you can find motives to shoot everywhere! I can say my camera had opened my eyes to the beauty of nature!!! As a civil engineer I'm caught in shooting architecture and I also love to capture landscapes or plants. Normally I don't like to take portraits... except of my own kids or friends. Do you have traditional art experience? I have been interested in architectural styles that's why I've chosen the profession of civil engineer. At high school my favourite lessons had been art, the most I loved doing sketches, always preferred pens or pencils. Later on I was educated by a friend in doing silk-screen printing as I have ever adored the art of Andy Warhol. But I had to stop doing it after a while due an allergy. Then I've found a new aim. I took some lessons in silk painting and batik at an art school and did it with much joy for a couple of years. But with the growing of my passion for photography I hadn't got enough spare time for both of the hobbies and I stopped it completely. What are you currently working on? I'm preparing two background packages for the R'osity Marketplace/Free stuff section and I try to do some backgrounds for the DAZ Cyclorama which I hopefully will have prepared soon for the Marketplace. Also I'm doing a translation work for a story we have running on our website (text and images in Vue d'Esprit/Bryce/Poser by CAD-MAN) What software/equipment do you use and why? About 6yrs ago I got my first digital camera, a Kodak DC290. I was really happy with it. Since then I'm absolutely fond of using a digicam and do some postwork on my PC. It's so exciting to play around with filters and see how it looks like. But more important to me is an original photo. Last August I bought a Nikon Coolpix 3100 and I really love it! Cause it's very small I don't go anywhere without it. So most of my postings are shot with it. And now my newest cam is a Minolta Dimage A1. I got it as an early b'day gift from my hubby. But there is still lots to learn about! The software I'm using for postwork usually is Corel Photo Paint. I also use Photoshop Elements which came along with my Nikon last August but I still don't know all the possibilities. My third tool is PhotoImpact XL which I use rarely. Last but not least my PC is a Packard Bell Pentium 4, 2.40GHz, 512MB RAM What do you think your best piece of work is and why? It's hard to say. I have a lil series "Sparkling" in the gallery that I like a lot. Let me say, my best pieces are those with mood. I'm a bit sensitive and I love images showing a mood whether a good or a bad, those which express a feeling like happiness or warmth or even grief. Why do you like to work with Photography? Photography means to me ... enjoying the beauty and keeping it, you can be the witness of a moment. As I've said before, my camera has opened my eyes to the beauty of nature! Who/what inspires you? Nature itself - the colours, the shapes, the light or the atmosphere - inspires me. I also find inspiration in those beautiful paintings of the Impressionism by such wonderful painters like Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Edouard Manet, Paul Cezanne, J.A.McNeill or Edgar Degas. And of course there's a lot of inspiration by my friends and members of Renderosity. How has this online community (Renderosity) enhanced your work, relationships, and learning? Couldn't have found a better place cause R'osity is the most active community of people creating images in the Internet. I like to meet people around the world. And yes, I can say I've got some wonderful friends. I've even met a few of them in the real world. Being in contact with my R'osity friends means a lot to me. The relationships in the real world are not always as you would like them to be, but I'm very happy with the people here. With their comments on my works they enhanced my work. I'll never get tired of saying thanks to them. But you also can learn so much in the Forums and from Tutorials by great R'osity members. Parting Comments / Advice to other Artists? The best advice I can give is to follow your heart when creating art. That is most important to me. As I've already said it's really great to know people around the world, with different cultures, religions and languages creating and sharing art. That is what makes the community. the members. Each one of them adds something to the community. There's always someone to help you when you need help. There's always someone to give you an answer when you have a question. There's always someone to encourage you when you struggle. And there's even always someone to comfort you when your down. That is what makes this community such a special place. I'm so glad to be a part of this great community. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! Monika

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