My photographic history to date:
For this post I have decided to tell the story of how I got into photography. The story begins around 1981 when I was 8 years old. Spider-man has been my favorite superhero ever since I can remember. Everyone knows that Spider-man’s secret identity is Peter Parker who earned a meager living as a photographer for Daily Bugle. I can remember going to my parents and asking for a camera. The very next day they surprised me with a Canon 35mm point and shoot. In the beginning I went through a lot of film. Even if I didn’t have any film I would shoot away just to hear the motor drive. I just loved the sound.
Years past and I used the hound out of that point and shoot. I never really advanced past that until I was in college. In March of 1993 I received my Private Pilot License and was amazed at the view out of a small single engine Cessna. I decided that I wanted a bigger better camera so that I could capture what I saw with more efficiency. I talked to my parents again and in true form my next birthday I was surprised with a Minolta 5xi SLR. The Minolta was not the best but it was light years ahead of my old camera. I had some decent luck using it but I wanted to learn more.
I enrolled in a black and white photography course in collage. To this point I was more of a “documentation photographer” with no real understanding of art. The professor kept trying to explain that my images were technically correct but lacked real substance. There was this one guy in the class that really stood above the rest of us. Every image he displayed was amazing. When I decided that I would rather view his photos than mine I decided something about my photography needed to change. Sadly, I realized this just as the class ended…
After getting married in July of ’98, Kim and I went to Great Britain for our honeymoon. The Minolta broke just after arriving. We have almost no pictures from that great trip…. We moved to Greensboro, NC where Kim attended UNCG to get her masters in music theory. Needless to say we had no extra money for a camera.
In 2000 we moved back to TN and I was finally able to get a good reliable camera. The Nikon F100 was what I purchased. I quickly fell in love with the Great Smoky Mountains and nature photography. I picked up a book by John Shaw called “Nature Photography Field Guide". This book did a great job of explaining everything related to exposure and what types of equipment is needed etc. I still read this book from time to time and I find it enlightening every time. Yes, it is a book written for film photography but much of what he has to say applies to both film and digital (not to mention the photos are astounding). I was officially obsessed.
Fast forward to 2005. Kim and I moved to South Florida (Homestead). The mountains were gone and I just resigned myself to a life without photography. I still loved it enough to purchase a Nikon D200 but did not use it very much. My son Zackeal was born on July 29, 2008 and suddenly I had an interest in infant photography (go figure). It wasn’t until 2009 that I really started to get my focus back. After hearing Kim tell me over and over to stop whining about not having mountains and take photos here, I decided to go. It took me one trip to realize what I had been missing. Thanks Kim for teaching me that the world is full of great photographs waiting to be made. Now 2010 is half over and I am more obsessed than ever. My photographic interests have changed to an extent. I still find nature and wildlife photography the most interesting but now I am into studio, architecture, cityscape and street photography. I have been networking with other artists and photographers and find that educating others is of great interest. Thanks to all those that have supported me to date and to those who continue to do so.
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