One of my hobbies

So it's been quite awhile since I blogged and dammit Doodi and Dsmooth changed the blog interface so now I am trying to figure out how to "correctly" (non url) include images and links. Please bear with me if my blog avatar erroneously populates the blog banner more than the acceptable one time. Yes, I am directly addressing all you thumbs down blog fairies.


The topic of this blog is actually photography. A few folks have recently been blogging about their photos and gear so I thought I'd contribute some to the discussion. I basically grew up with two shutter bugs who documented much of my life via film, up until age 18. At the time it would occasionally annoy me, but as I've gotten older I have actually grown to appreciate the quasi photojournalism my parents did. I'm certain I will appreciate it even more after they are gone. Having constantly been in front of the camera as a child it was only natural that I would eventually get behind one myself and subject others to it. Fortunately my parents are the nurturing type and taught me most of the very basic stuff as a kid and even allowed me to play with their equipment some. Although I don't recall or offhand have any "great" photos from my early days I think I did alright for a kid.

Fast forward to my mid 20's and I'm in graduate school with a little bit more free time than in undergrad. I didn't have internet or a game console then so I actually used to go outside and do stuff!!! One thing I have always enjoyed was being outdoors. Whether it was hunting, fishing, skiing, biking, hiking, golfing, ect didn't matter to me as long as I was outside in the sunshine. Doing all of these activities provided me ample opportunities to behold and enjoy the majestic beauty of Mother Nature. So many times I would be looking at a scene so amazing that I would be nearly dumbstruck and hoping that I could permanently etch the scene into my mind so that I could enjoy it again and again forever. Alas, memories fade and rarely are as vivid as true life. So I eventually decide to invest in some good camera equipment and see what I could capture. Back in '99-'00 digital SLR's were VERY expensive and far beyond the modest stipend of a Chemistry Grad student so I went the route of the trusty 35mm SLR. So the big question Nikon or Cannon?

For those that do photography at least semi seriously most either fall into the Cannon or the Nikon camp. I'm a Cannon person basically because my Dad had an old AE-1 when I was very young so I learned on it. As I got older he switched out to the simpler auto pocket sized cameras for convenience. My Mom on the other hand went super complex and far beyond her needs with the Cannon EOS system. The beauty of the EOS system is that it is the standard lens for all of Cannon's SLR cameras both film and digital! So I basically have a plethora of lenses I can "borrow" for my present Cannon Rebel XT digital, but I am getting ahead of myself a little. Rewind back to '99 and my Dad is generous enough to give me his old Cannon AE-1 that has been collecting dust for 5+ years. I quickly devour the manual and attempt to capture some of those majestic scenes. I learned a lot from those first few rolls of film. The first is that the cost of good film and good developing are not cheap! The second lesson was that capturing on film what your eye sees is a lot harder than the manual says it is. Lastly, Ansel Adams I was not.

I decided to do some research and maybe even invest in a book about photography. Now, granted my Mom had numerous books specializing is a multitude of things, but none of them REALLY covered the fundamentals and basics well. Enter my favorite reference book still to this day: Alpha Teach Yourself Black and White Photography in 24 Hours. Yep, it is one cheesy long ass title, but it is an EXCELLENT book for explaining all the basics of film photography. The book really has everything in it you need to know for just about every type of photography including lighting techniques for studio work. Anyway armed with my new found knowledge, my trusty Manfrotto tripod with Super-Pro head, a cable release, some filters, and different ISO films I set forth again, this time with much more success. As my skill set improved I eventually moved up to a Mamiya 645 medium format film camera. For those not familiar with medium format it is basically what most professional film photographers use because it's negative size is much larger than 35mm, thus it can yield larger higher detailed enlargements. Unfortunately, all of my good ones from those days are on film and only a few have been scanned into a digital image. The only ones that I could quickly locate was:

Serene

Ohio Pyle in Jan (not a great scan)

Here is a photo of my gear from a few years ago. It doesn't include the myriad of red, orange, yellow, 81A-E, and neutral density filters I have for all the lenses or my Rebel XT digital (what I took the picture with). Below I'll include some of my personal favorites. I mostly do landscapes and have a high affinity for B&W. Sadly I have lived in NC now for 5 years and have yet to make it over to western mountains in the fall. Truth be told, that area reminded me so much of home (western Pa) when I first visited years ago it was one of the reasons I moved to NC. Comments and questions are welcome.