In The Beginning…

So someone suggested writing a blog… a place where I can quietly rant and rave to my heart’s content without anyone else having to read it. Maybe even nothing more than a publicly accessible diary or journal for my own edification. Sounded like a great idea. This is me doing that.

So how did I “get into” photography? Well, for perspective, I think photography got into me! You see, when I was about 10-12 (I don’t remember precisely), I became my Mom’s “darkroom slave”. I will NEVER forget the hours spend either in total darkness or with a reddish “safelight” on. The sheer THRILL of watching an image form on a sheet of previously blank white paper in a chemical solution - the smells of the developer, fixer and stop bath. The distinct authoritative buzz and “CLICK” of the GraLab timer when the exposure of the enlarger was up. Not sure where that Omega D2V got off to… I kinda miss it though. What’s not to love about all that? Still, I readily admit - there is the large “instant gratification” factor to digital, and I am NOT a “#ishootfilm” fanatic. In my opinion, if you shoot film and post on social media, you’re really just doing digital the hard way, but I don’t judge. Each to his/her own!

So, like so many things in my life, I did things backward. Most people get a camera and eventually figure out how to process their own film in the darkroom. I did the opposite!

Eventually, I “inherited” a Kodak Instamatic (104, I think it was, and also a 110!) camera that took these cassette things. I never had figured out how to properly & gracefully open those things. So I just gave them a good twist and cracked them open (in the dark, duhhh!) and loaded them into a steel film tank, and off I went. I can’t remember the process… if I shot black & white originally in that or mastered color. I eventually got into processing Cibachrome at home. Great fun - but you prayed to your deity of choice that the guy in the apartment on the left of me didn’t flush the toilet and cause a radical temp shift in your water flow - and ditto - that the the girl in apartment on the right didn’t decide to make the kids take a bath right when I was processing. I’ve always been a “night owl” - and this may partially be why!

Anyway… next up, I managed to buy a Minolta XG7, 35mm film SLR… Man, that thing was awesome. Right up until I was sitting in “Jim’s Never On Sunday” Greek restaurant on Harvard in Tulsa… and someone reached in the car window and grabbed the camera, a Tamron zoom (~70-200 I think - something like that), the nifty 50 that was on it, and wait! There’s still more! The thief also stole a really cool set of Cokin filters. That was around ‘82 or so. I couldn’t afford to replace it. Sorely missed it. So, I was cameraless for several years. Then I thought, well, the camera in my cell phone was “good enough” (trust me, at that point, it wasn’t!). And then, in about 2021 or so, a good friend who worked at my favorite restaurant also was running a modest photography business as a side hustle suggested I “get back into it”. I thought about it. And thought about it some more. Whoa! It started to itch. So I bought a DSLR (if you must know, a Nikon D850). I initially just had a nifty 50, but then later added an Irix Firefly 15mm (because I have an interest in night photography - more on that in another blog, perhaps!). Then an extremely low mileage Nikkor 70-300mm. I’ve also added a ~30-year-old but VERY “mint” Nikkor 105mm to the stable. No idea what might be next, if anything. I don’t feel I have “G.A.S.” (Gear Acquisition Syndrome).

I think there’s a “photography gene” or something in our family. My Mom, my Mom’s Dad, my brother (especially), and my sisters (to varying degrees) all have cameras and know how to use them. My Mom and my brother are my biggest inspirations though. My Mom passed away years ago but instilled a love of the arts and photography in particular. Taught history of art at the college level, and was director of audio-visual services at the same college. My brother… Man, what an inspiration! He took photos for the school newspaper if I recall correctly. He shot a cover for “Science” magazine and others as well. He has shot many weddings. And while, as far as I know, never worked “full time” in photography, but was certainly a professional in my book.

Anyhey - the D850 checks all the boxes for me. I know, I know, there’s mirrorless stuff out there, but I really don’t need it and can’t justify the bleeding edge cost, while the F-mount ecosystem prices are getting reasonable now! Hehehehe.

So, that in a largish nutshell is the how / why I “got into” photography. There’s a lot more in my heart, but it’s hard for me to articulate a passion, an emotion, a feeling into words. It’s truly one of those “If you know, you know!” things. Some people just love fast cars, working the soil in their garden, collecting stamps or whatever the case may be. Perhaps not all “hobbies” can turn into a mainstream business, and the cellphone and cheap cameras certainly make it a challenge, but I do believe there is a drought of quality operators! Or, put another way. There are a lot more “professional fauxtographers” than "professional photographers”.

Anyhey, that’ll probably do it for now. More to come soon. Maybe tomorrow or next week or next month - when I have the time and subject matter! Hey… whaddaya want for free?!