Greetings! My name is Andre'. Now there are hundreds of photography blogs of all sorts all over cyberspace. When deciding to create this particular blog I asked myself two questions. One: what made my photographs any more special than anyone else's? Two: Haven't so many other people pondered the same question that just asking it is superfluous? The conclusion that came from these questions are that photographs,especially in the digital age, are a lot like snowflakes. No two of them are identical,even if they are from the same place. As a result,no two people can take the same photograph twice. Simplistic idea right? Well I thought so. Yet its been said that the simplest ideas end up being the most profound. Hope there's a moral in there somehow. Of course,it makes it all the better to realize each photograph is another footprint in time. Anyway I'm randomly rambling-as random as my photographs tend to me. I'll start by talking a little about my own personal adventures in the world of photography.
Having been a junior shutterbug as most 1980's era American children with an old blue Fischer Price 110 film camera,sometime in late preadolescence I developed a serious interest in cameras and photography. In my grandparents basement they had cameras of all sorts. Rectangular Kodak Brownies from the roaring 20's,plastic twin lens cameras with vertical viewers from the 1950's and even an enormous black Kodak Instant Camera (apparently mimicking Polaroid) from a couple decades after that. My late grandfather gave them to me,probably hoping I'd tinker with them and develop an interest in fixing things the way he had. Well it worked like a charm...almost. Turns out the interest that came from that was that of photography itself. Even though most schoolmates I had weren't exactly supportive,
the fact my entire extended family even were cheering me on was more than enough encouragement to pursue that interest.
The first 35mm camera I had was a small white Vivitar-what they called a point and shoot model. Preset exposure,no close up focusing. Taught me the basics but little more. Within a summers time I'd already moved beyond it sadly. Around that time I became deeply immersed in John Hedgecoe's The Photographers Handbook. I memorized pictures and passages in that book in the manner that many people memorize bible versus. It was not only an informative journey but spiritual in a very secular sort of way. Upon reading further I came to the conclusion what I wanted was an SLR,or single-lens reflex camera,where two sets of mirrors allowed you to see right through the lens with your viewfinder. It seems very exciting. I would no longer be just an observer through the camera's eye. The camera would be my eye.
A lady named Andy at Bangor Photo helped show me the ropes of different types of SLR's before settling on the Pentax K1000,what was then the traditional beginners manual 35mm SLR,for a Christmas gift. Since this coincided with my first year of homeschooling, it all came largely from more self education via Hedgecoe's book. While a brief time associated with the Bangor Camera Club proved to be...ironically insightful that's the way it went for the next five/six years-photographing everything in many different ways using everything from B&W to slide film. Following a family trip to Montreal,the camera finally broke down-destroying all the photos I'd taken while visiting there. After that I was actually camera-less for about a year. I ended up with a Pentax P30T,which fit K1000 lenes and helped me learn some things about semi automated cameras. But I never developed the attachment to that camera as I did to my first SLR and in another five years that camera broke down as well.
By this time I was 24. Again at Christmas,my partner at the time decided to introduce me to the world of digital cameras. In his case,there were budgetary concerns obviously.The camera of choice was an Aiptek DV4500. Actually it was very close to an overpriced plastic toy. And the digital camera aspect of it,though 4 megapixel resolution,was very poor from what I now understand. That camera lasted a couple of years before it snapped into in the spring of 2007. Luckily by then I'd purchased my first digital SLR-an Olympus E500 model that came with a wide-angle and telephoto zoom lends. This is the primary camera I use today. And the best one that I've had so far. It has allowed me to get the results of a manual camera with various automated settings as well as a manual exposure option. Four years ago I supplemented this with a used Sanyo S770 compact digital camera. In fact that camera is the one with which I photographed the sunflower you see on this post-earlier today.
So technically this marks a twenty year journey-from rewinding film to be developed in grocery stores to just exchanges memory cards of different sizes and shapes in and out of cameras and computers. On that level,it's mostly been very exciting and a lot of fun. With the bare minimum of bumps along the way. Never thought much of the whole "artists have to suffer" cliche anyway. On a creative level it's represented something more significant. Personally I've suffered through my share of disappointments and setbacks during my years as a photographer-ranging from the fairly mundane to ones even I still don't fully understand. And although I haven't gone totally professional with my photography,I will say without unneeded egoism that my work (if not always subject matter) in near the professional level anyway. And in doing so, photography has proven a much needed confidence booster to me as well as being highly therapeutic during the rougher times. Its one of the few things I do very well. And though I am not as well traveled as most photographers at my level of experience usually are, it's my pleasure to share some of the moments of my photographic journey with you-past,present and future,from this point onward!
P.S. This is my first and only photography blog. And I am a little nervous
about starting this new venture-unsure if it will be successful. It would help
me out if all of you who read and/or are interested in this blog please subscribe
to it. And if you would recommend that all of your photography loving online
friends to read it and do the same. And most of all-comment en mass. I appreciate
all of your support. Thank you!
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