J. Yung's photostream  

My camera of the moment is my new Fuji X100. Up until then, I was shooting mostly with my Nikon D40 and Canon S90. And, of course, the camera on my phone. I also bought a used Nikon FM from eBay a while ago for a botched attempt at IR photography, then there was my toy camera phase (Holga, Diana F+, ActionSampler, Polaroid Land). For the D40, I prefer my 35mm AF-S prime lens, which has replaced my Series E 50mm lens as my favorite by virtue of being able to autofocus. (The Series E has transferred to the FM.)

My first camera was a Kodak Instamatic, which used flip flashes. For those of you not familiar, a flip flash had eight bulbs and a connector on each end; when you used the four bulbs on top, you flipped it over and used the other end. They were expensive, and made me very frugal with flash for a very long time.

When I was in high school, I took a few photography classes. When I started, I used my dad's very old German camera, but it started falling apart. I borrowed the school's Pentax K1000 until my dad bought me a Canon T60 when we were in Hong Kong. (I finally sold the T60 on eBay a few years ago.)

(I have tried to block it out of my head, but I was on the yearbook staff, too. I'm laughing now at my younger self trying to take action shots on my mom's point-and-shoot snapshot camera. I think it was a Canon SureShot.)

I pretty much stopped taking photos after high school, though every once in a while I snapped the occasional roll. In December 2002, I bought a Canon S200 so I could document our Christmas party, and I got back into carrying a camera around with me. That camera was stolen from my bag after I left it in a bar. I was really bummed out about that because I had a lot of great photos from a trip to the 1000 Islands I took with my parents and my girlfriend at the time. (If you're ever up there, definitely check out Hart Island and the boathouse.)

Fast forward to 2006. My friend Doug bought a Canon D80 from his gambling winnings, and he convinced me to step my game up, so I bought myself a D40. I couldn't believe the difference! All this time, I was wondering why I seemed to be so much better in high school, and I didn't realize it was a simple matter of having a decent camera. Time to catch up, I suppose.