I have always been interested in photography but never embraced it fully. In Jr. High and High School I was into camcorders and trying to get my friends to make a public access show. I lacked the skilled to motivate them. We made a few short “films” but they never made it to public access and I never really could get everyone to buy into the idea of being on camera.
Then towards the end of HS I was really into going to parties, “raves” as they call it now. I got one of the first digital camera’s out there. The Olympus C-860L and took thousands and thousands of photos of parties. Old and new friends having an amazing time at some of the best warehouse parties in NYC. Somehow, mostly due to stupid ignorance I lost the hard drive that had the photos. Hundreds of raves from 1998 through 2000s gone. I have about 100 left.
That moment made me hate photography for while.
In college after 9/11 I wanted to get into film photography again and borrowed my mother’s old 35mm Minolta. I think I still have it somewhere but can’t find it for the life of me. It was fun using the dark room, and the type of photos I was most interested in shooting was what I called “urban landscape”, basically bridges, fire hydrants, etc that sort of thing in nice high contrast B&W film. I enjoyed it a bunch but college was time for partying not work so I didn’t take it to seriously.
From there time was a bit of a blur. College was amazing, my first job was amazing. Smart phones with camera’s became became a thing but I did have a parade of camera’s I shot with including:
- Konica Minolta DiMAGE A200 which I hated and quickly moved on from
- Pentax Optio 33L which I still have over 20 years later, I didn’t love it as much as the original Olympus but it certainly took better photos.
- Canon PowerShot SD600 a very popular camera, took a bunch of photos with it, I dropped it in a river, dove in and grabbed it and still worked just fine.
- Canon Digital Rebel XTi my first big boy camera. Loved the sensor, realized Canon photos area bit warm for me, but I took alot of great photos with it and loved using it.
My Favorite Point and Shoot
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7 didn’t replace my XTi but was more of an everyday camera. I used it alot, and even today my daughter uses it. It’s still a great camera. Same battery despite a million years and many thousands of shots. I loved the color science and it was always super reliable.
Moving to Micro 4/3
From there I did a bunch of research into the colors I liked, where digital camera technology was going and what I wanted next. I love the Lumix but wanted another camera with changeable lens and a large sensor. I with with the Olympus E-M5 as my first M43’s shooter and loved the camera. It looks great. felt very secure in hand. I have so many thousands of photos with this camera. It did great portraits. Which I generally won’t share on this site without approval. Even the attached flash worked great. I still use this camera and lover what I get out of it.
The Future
Why am I here. Why this blog. Well as I get well into my 40’s and AI and the world delivers a bunch of made up information I started to look back and see what matters to me. What were my anchors in my life. The list was pretty short – Family + Friends, Photography, Bikes, and Music. Nothing strange about that list. I have a growing family and my heart is full with them. I love music and bikes still but photography has fallen off. Sure I have a million photos shot with my iPhone. They take great photos. There is never a shadow or highlight, they capture moments. They are always with you. I love my smart phone but I want to be more mindful and want to create something real. I want to rediscover my love of the world one of the best ways I know how photography.
To kick this off I bought a new (despite an older sensor) OM System OM-5, so I can use all my old lenses and a few new ones and plan on documenting my life a bit more mindfully. Certainly my travels, but also themes. I don’t really know what they are yet, and discovering them is half the fun, but I will be documenting them here and hope to have you along for the journey.