About Dennis
Dennis Sotolongo was born in Havana, Cuba. As a young boy his family left Cuba and moved to Florida. After living in the United States for 5 months, Dennis’ father decided to make Puerto Rico their new home. Even as a young child, Dennis was very interested in photography. His first camera was an Kodak Instamatic 35mm camera. He used this camera to photograph family gatherings and other social events. His passion for photography grew more as he grew up.
![Dennis Sotolongo](https://naturewildlifeworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Dennis-2-867x1024.jpg)
Dennis Sotolongo is a active member of the following organizations:
Career
While pursing a degree in Biology at the Sacred Heart University in Puerto Rico during the years 1976 through 1981, Dennis became interested in underwater photography. He became a certified Scuba Diver and purchased a Nikonos III underwater camera together with a 28mm lens, a 35mm lens, and a 80mm lens. He later added a Ikelite 150 substroke underwater flash and a close up kit. His portfolio consists of hundreds of underwater slides and photos taken in the waters of Puerto Rico, the U.S.Virgin Islands,the British Virgin Islands, Mexico, Cayman Islands, and Florida. Many of his photographs have been published in magazines, almanacs and books. Dennis’ photographs have also been purchased for use in advertising, restaurant decorations and personal home display.
Dennis’ continued passion for photography lead him to photograph Nature and Wildlife every chance he could. His first professional camera was a Minolta SRT 201 35mm camera with several lenses and other equipment. He later upgraded to a Minolta X-700 35mm camera with a 50mm lens, a 75-300mm lens, and a 80-200mm lens. As the photography equipment industry became more advanced, Dennis purchased a Minolta Maxxum 7 35mm camera. It was the first auto-focus camera to enter the market and the last film camera with an auto focus system. Because of the new Auto-Focus system, he had to upgrade to Auto-Focus lenses since his previous lenses were not compatible with the new system.
When the digital SLR camera was introduced, Dennis switched to the new technology by purchasing a Konica Minolta 7D DSLR camera which introduced him to the digital photography world. The Konica Minolta 7D uses a Compact Flash memory card which could only handle 8GB of storage which limited the amount of photographs he could capture in RAW format. When Sony acquired Konica Minolta in 2006, they did not change the lens mount system that was created by Minolta which allowed Dennis to purchase a Sony camera and continue using the same auto-focus lenses he had purchased for his Konica – Minolta. Taking the advice from the reviews he read in nature photography magazines and websites, Dennis decided to purchase a Sony Alpha a550 DSLR camera which uses a SDHC memory card. These high content memory cards allowed Dennis to capture more photographs at higher resolution than previous memory technology could handle.
As Dennis became familiar with his new digital technology he realized that while taking nature photography at close range using his macro lens he would not be able to switch to a telephoto lens fast enough to photograph subjects at long distances. This observation lead him to acquire a second DSLR camera so he can be ready to photograph subjects from close range with one camera, as well as subjects in the distance with the second camera. The camera he decided to purchase is a Sony Alpha a77 DSLR which has great reviews from nature photographer around the world.
Today Dennis continues to enjoy both of his Sony DSLR cameras. When out in the field capturing close range photographs of subjects like butterflies or small creatures , he uses his Sony Alpha a550 camera equipped with a 105mm macro AF lens. When he needs to capture long range photographs of subjects like alligators or birds, he then uses his Sony Alpha a77 camera equipped with his 200-500mm AF telephoto lens. Dennis is also equipped with a 50mm AF lens, 18-35mm AF wide angle lens, a 28-300mm AF telephoto lens, several flashes, tripods, mono-pod, extra memory cards, and a variety of camera accessories.
These professional cameras and lenses, together with his experience as a nature photographer, allows Dennis to capture breathtaking photographs of nature at its best. People from around the world can enjoy his photographs by visiting his website NatureWildlifeWorld.com . His dedication to the field of Nature Photography spans over 40 years. Dennis Sotolongo’s portfolio includes many aspects of his photography expertise involving nature, wildlife, and scenic photography. These photographs have been taken in many places around the United States, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Europe, Mediterranean and the Caribbean seas. He has received many awards for his work and continue to inspire through his camera lens.