About

Meet Michael Dogan.  Passionate, personable, and just like any normal guy.  Well, except for the normal part.

Vital Stats:

Age 38; born in Radford, Virginia; grew up in Roanoke (Vinton) Virginia, and current resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania but in the process of moving to Rome, Italy.

Family

On Saturday November 28th 2009, I married Lauren Fritz.  Lauren and I, along with our kitty “Fred” are in the process of moving to Rome Italy.

My brother John, and mother and father, Mike and Shirley, live in the thriving metropolis of Roanoke, Virginia.  Lauren’s sisters Rachel and Caroline and brother Greg live in Eastern Pennsylvania, her father and step mother Larney and Betsy live in Maryland just at the top of the Chesapeake Bay.  We don’t get to see them often enough… but hopefully this blog will help them keep track of us and our shenanigans.  =)

Bio

Michael infuses all facets of his life with passion.  He is particularly passionate about his friends and family, his job, photography, traveling, Celtic Football, and sailing.  <EDITING IN PROGRESS>

Occupation:

Michael Dogan is a Project Manager for Ansaldo STS USA, part of the Ansaldo family of companies listed on the Milan stock exchange and operating in the global Railway & Mass Transit Transportation Systems business with the provision of traffic management, planning, train control and signalling systems and services.

Michael works with an exceptional team of project professionals, engineers, supply chain and manufacturing experts, legal experts, financial analysts, and multiple suppliers to provide a completely automated transport system with trains that travel completely safely and regularly without any operator on board.  Michael is responsible for three projects in Italy.  The projects are located in Brescia, Milan, and Rome.  In addition to frequent travel to those cities, Michael also frequently travels to Genoa, and Naples where he works with his Italian friends and colleagues from Ansaldo STS S.p.A.

Over his ten year career at Ansaldo STS USA, Michael has been fortunate enough to travel to China, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Italy, and various places throughout the United States.

Favorite Films: (In no particular order)

His Girl Friday; Goodfellas;  The Lord of the Rings; the original Star Wars trilogy; Pulp Fiction; Bridge on the River Kwai; Forrest Gump; Platoon; The Shawshank Redemption; Rear Window; Raiders of the Lost Ark; The Usual Suspects; Seven; When Harry Met Sally; Monty Python’s Quest for the Holy Grail; and probably about a gazillion others.  I rarely watch TV, but I really enjoy movies.

Favorite Bands/Musicians: (in no particular order)

Cloud Cult, Coldplay, Dave Matthews Band; AC/DC; The Police; Billy Joel; The Ramones; Paul Simon; Sarah McLachlan; and again a gazillion others.

Favorite Restaurants:

Soba Lounge in Shadyside (Pittsburgh); Bites and Brews in Shadyside, the best pizza in the ‘burgh, fantastic sandwiches, and super friendly staff.  The little place I always go for pizza when I’m in Naples, Italy.

Intersts/Hobbies:

Photography, Travel, Sailing, Watching Celtic beat the Rangers.

My Computer Setup:

  • MacBook Pro – 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
  • Mac Pro Tower – Dual Quad-core 2.8 GHz with 30″ Apple Cinema Display and secondary 19″ Sony LCD
  • No Photo Quality Printer yet!

My Photography Equipment:

Camera Bodies:

  • Nikon D80 with MB-D80 Battery Grip
  • Pentax K1000 SE (manual 35mm film camera)
  • Canon SD850 IS Digital Elph (point and shoot)

Lenses:

  • AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D (Thanks Dad!)
  • AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D IF
  • AF-S DX VR Zoom – Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED
  • Sigma APO 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG/HSM
  • Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC/HSM  (now replaced by the Nikkor 50mm)
  • Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC/HSM

Camera Support:

  • Manfrotto 725 B Digi Compact BH Tripod w/ QR (Fits in my carry on bag)
  • Manfrotto 055MF3 Magfiber 3 Section Tripod w/ 322RC2 Grip Action ball head
  • Ultra-pod II (small tabletop tripod)
  • Manfrotto 680B 4 Section Monopod

Flashes:

  • Nikon SB-600
  • Nikon SB-800

Digital Film:

  • (2) Lexar 4GB SD Cards
  • (2) ScanDisk Ultra II 4GB SD Cards

Camera Bags:

  • Tamrac Adventure 9 Photo Backpack
  • Tamrac Velocity 7x  Sling Pack

Printers:

  • NONE!

Accessories:

  • Several Hoya Digital Pro 1 UV and Circular Polorizing Filters
  • Sekonic L-358 Digital Flash Master (Light Meter)
  • El Cheapo Cable Release

Software:

  • Apple Aperture 2 – Digital Asset Management
  • Photoshop CS3 – Digital Enhancements
  • iWatermark – Watermarking
  • PhotoMatix – High Dynamic Range
  • OnOne Plug-in Suite 4 – Plug in for Photoshop