wafwot's photostream  

Sections: How I got started | Photography Schooling | Fast forward to today

"Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop."   -- Ansel Adams



HOW I GOT STARTED:

Growing up, my parents always had some kind of camera around for capturing moments. I remember 126 cameras, 110 cameras, even Polaroid cameras. I would often take family pictures with the parents' camera, even borrowed one of their older 110 cameras for a school field trip to Gettysburg. But I never owned my own. That all changed when I was a teenager of about 14 or 15 and got my very own Kodak Colorburst 250 for Christmas. That same Christmas, my Mom got an SLR. This started my interest in photography. I don’t remember exactly which SLR my Mom got, but I seem to recall it was an Olympus OM-10, but I could be wrong. I know it was an Olympus camera, though.

In any case, when she started buying photo magazines, I started reading them and getting interested in the art of photography. So much so, that I abandoned the instant camera and acquired a Nikon FG a couple years later. I don’t remember if the FG was a birthday or Christmas present, but I loved that camera and it cemented my adoration of Nikons to this day.   [top]



PHOTOGRAPHY SCHOOLING:

When I attended high school, I took two elective art classes for photography. I took a lot of art classes throughout high school; commercial art, mechanical drawing, ceramics, painting, ad nauseam… but photography was by far my favorite.

It was in high school that I learned how to make photographs, not just snap pictures. We shot exclusively in Ilford black and white film and my school was lucky enough to have a darkroom — complete with about 8 or 9 enlargers — for developing film and printing photographs. I enjoyed those photo classes and thrived at the “hobby.” I spent all my free time in the photo lab. After graduating high school, I decided to continue my education and enrolled at the Art Institute of Philadelphia to study photography.

One of the first things I did before I started classes was sell my Nikon FG at a camera shop in Philadelphia. I don’t remember what I got for it, but it was not nearly enough to cover the camera I bought to replace it. With some monetary help from my grandfather, my new camera was a Nikon F3 High Point, arguably the best manual-focus, professional 35mm SLR camera ever made.

My F3 was awesome! I loved that camera. I babied it like it was made of glass, even though Nikon professional cameras have a renowned reputation as being the most rugged cameras in the world. I was only 19 at the time, and it was the most expensive thing I ever owned at nearly one thousand 1985 dollars for the camera body alone.

In photography school, I learned much about photography; composition, color, lighting, design, on location, studio work, etc. I really enjoyed the classes and thought I was getting half-way decent at being a photographer.

However, life and finance has a tendency of getting in the way of dreams. After two years in school, I realized the photography industry doesn't offer many career opportunities. Discouraged, one thing led to another, and it wasn't long before I left Pennsylvania and moved to Washington. To fund my relocation in 1990, I sold my Nikon F3 gear… a decision I still regret to this day.   [top]



FAST FORWARD TO TODAY:

In Washington for the past 20 years, I've held jobs in desktop publishing before focusing on a career in the Internet Technology industry. I've owned a couple digital point-and-shoot cameras over the years, including a Fujifilm MX-1700 and a Canon Powershot S10, but never replaced my SLR.

In early 2009, I got a decent tax refund, and finally decided to buy a real camera. A digital SLR! I spent an entire Friday night and Saturday morning researching Nikons before settling on the Nikon D90. Since I bought my F3 from B&H, I decided to pull the trigger at B&H again, coming full circle, twenty five years later. Of course, as anyone who has ever bought from B&H before, I had to wait until sundown to place my order, then wait for the delivery.

Shooting with a new camera is like learning all over again. Capturing images digitally is a lot different than on black and white film. I'm still figuring out how to shoot with my D90. There's a lot more going on in the camera than there was in my old F3. I'm not a big fan of changing images in post-production, but I have all the Adobe tools, and I'm not afraid to do so.

I still live on Whidbey Island working (or looking for work) in the IT industry, and enjoy shooting landscapes and nature for the time being.

Add me as a contact if you'd like, and watch me figure this Nikon out...   [top]