Welcome! Here you get to experience the "magik" that can happen when light enters a camera lens. My name is Don Cook and I am your host.

Over the years, I have studied digital prepress, page layout and design (using InDesign and/or Pagemaker), illustration (using Illustrator and/or Freehand), typography (using Suitcase Fusion in concert with a huge collection of TrueType, OpenType and PostScript Fonts) , web design (using Dreamweaver and/or GoLive), copy writing and color management.

I'm also a Pilot (Single Engine, Land, VFR), an Internationally Certified Scuba Diver, an Electronics Engineer (De Anza College), a CompTIA A Certified Professional, an Adobe Certified Expert, a Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator, a Webmaster (Penn State University), a Certified Web Designer, a Certified Intranet Manager, a Certified Web Developer, a CSS Developer, a Novell Certified Internet Business Strategist, a Graphics Designer, a Digital Artist, an Illustrator, a USAF Master Technician, a Certified Marketing Professional, an IBM Certified SEO Professional, and a Graduate of the Success Motivation Institute (SMI). And, I have an MBA (from Keller University) with a concentration in Internet Marketing.

For hardware I use a Mac Pro (the tower of 8 - core power), a Custom PeeCee (that I built myself), a Wacom tablet, and a MacBook Pro connected to studio monitors, as well as a ColorVision Spyder (for color calibration). For software I use the Adobe Creative Suite 3 (CS3), Aperture 2, Lightroom, Macromedia Studio 8 and other goodies such as the Art Directors Toolkit, the DigitalColor Meter, and countless Plug-Ins, Fonts, Clip Art and Digital Stock Photos.

I've been "hooked" on photography every since I took a course in High School (1969). At that time we used Pentax SLRs.

Right now, have to admit that I'm hooked on digital photography. I became hooked when I bought what I believe was the first consumer-level digital camera (an Apple QuickTake 100), in 1994 at the MacWorld Conference, and used it to take photos of San Francisco.

My studies of Adobe Photoshop CS3 have concentrated on camera "raw" techniques, color correction, masking, layers, retouching, special effects, HDRI (High Dynamic Range Imaging) and professional sharpening techniques. (Basically, taking my skills to "the next level".)

Currently, I am busy building "Don's Digital Café" (a digital darkroom, digital A/V studio, and digital art and web design studio). To learn more about my Digital Café, visit http://www.donsdigitalcafe.com, (scheduled to launch in August of 2008).

Here you can download Royalty Free Stock Images (for commercial use), or Event Images (for non-commercial use). You can print them yourself, or you can order images printed by our Pro Lab. Our Pro Lab has over 30 years of experience in photographic printing. All prints are produced on Fuji Crystal archive paper with state of the art Fuji Frontier and/or Durst Theta printers. You can also order our images printed on canvas, or on quality gifts and merchandise.