mountaineerfan's photostream

Learned to shoot almost 15 years ago with an old Praktica LTL, Got an AE-1 program, and then got my first job...photography went to the back burner. Now, I'm settled and I started itching to do something creative. Finally got back into photography after being away from it for so long. Started with my wife's Kodak Easy Share CX-7300, walking around the neighborhood taking random shots of anything that looked interesting. Dug out my old Canon AE-1 Program and had to re-learn how to work it...the first few rolls were pretty painful. Still occasionally forget to set the aperture on Auto...not all pictures look good at f/22. I did some night shots (they're on here) that turned out really good, and then I was hooked. Again.

Ever since, I've been acquiring gear like they're going to stop making it. My Dad gave me his old Praktica, and I ordered another one off of Ebay (sadly, it has a dead meter, but that hasn't kept me from using it). I decided I needed to go digital, but didn't know if I was serious enough to get a full blown DSLR, so I settled for a Pansonic Lumix DMC-FZ8. That was money well spent, as it is more than capable and I've used it quite a lot.

By this time, the old Kodak was on its last legs...used batteries like it was going out of style, and the case was cracked. So, I got a Casio Exilim EX-Z850. More money well spent...a camera smaller than a deck of cards with fully adjustable ISO and white balance, as well as aperture priority, shutter priority, and full manual control. I carry it with me everywhere.

I also recently traded a 9mm pistol to my Dad in exchange for a Nikon FM2n with a Vivitar Series 1 26-105MM zoom and a Speedlight, a Minolta 5xi, with a 35-80, and an 80-300, and about a billion filters and accessories.

Coming up: a friend is giving me another AE-1, and I'm going to fire up my Dad's old Rolleicord. And now, my main shooter is a Nikon D40.

I'm thinking this hobby might stick this time.

The photos on the front page will change frequently. Often, I'll think of some way to improve a photo I've taken a long time ago and adjust it and upload it again, and so it appears on the front page. Sometimes, I just don't like a photo and it will disappear to make room for something better. I'm never going to have more than 100 photos up at a time (not buying a Pro account) so hopefully, the 100 that I do get will keep getting better and better, as the crap is eliminated and replaced with something of higher quality. We'll see what happens.