I think I got my first camera way back in the dark ages (i.e. the 1970s) when I was about ten. It was a little Kodak Instamatic that used film cartridges that you would take to the drugstore and they would develop the pictures for you. Each cartridge had 12 images on it, unless you wanted to splurge and get the ones with 24 images, so you really had be careful not to waste any of your shots. I think it was good training in lighting and composition because if you didn't get it right the first time, you couldn't go back and fix it later without using up another frame. And post-production? Totally didn't exist back then. As a result, I got pictures that had weird lighting, fingers in the frame, and where the subject was perfectly centered in the frame. Eek!!
Later on, I got a used 35mm Canon AE-1 that "took fantastic pictures" (no, seriously!) and that was when I started to look for shots that weren't just snapshots. You know, different angles, perspectives, leading lines, that sort of thing. These are from the early 1990s:
After I sold the AE-1, I made do with disposable cameras from the drugstore (gasp!) until about 2003, when I decided enough was enough, I'm getting a digital camera. It was a big decision, I'd never had one before, it cost almost $200, and I was virtually computer illiterate. Here's what some of those images looked like:
I was getting better! In 2009, we went on vacation to Alaska. Holy cow, talk about a photographer's paradise!
Finally, in 2011, I got my first DSLR and I am having a ball! I've taken lots of photos that I'm really proud of, won at least one Picture of the Week contest, and entered two photos into an exhibition. I'm compiling monthly portfolio books and I hope to share all of that with you in the days, weeks and months to come.
Thanks for reading!
I love how you have old photos from your old photos. Very cool.
ReplyDelete