September 10, 2011
The Changing Landscape Of My Photography Hobby
Like many people my age (okay I’m 62) my first camera was a trusty Kodak Brownie. In those days we just had black and while film. I don’t remember if there were any choices of speed. I think we just bought the one thing that worked in that camera. It was the very definition of point and shoot itself. It did have a flash. It was a big round aluminum cone in which you placed a flashbulb: it took one bulb for each shot. I didn’t take the best pictures but I had fun trying. However, I preserved some wonderful memories of family vacations and summers at Boy Scout Camp. Moreover, I was introduced to a lifelong hobby of photography.
When I got to college I was happy to find my roommate also loved photography. He even knew how to develope film and was able to use the college darkroom facility. One time after we had taken photos of the guys in our dorm, he let me come along to the darkroom. I found it fascinating to see the ways you could create different pictures from the same negative.
Some years later I took a step up from point and shoot and purchased a Pentax K1000 SLR and a couple of special lenses: wide angle and telephoto zoom. The great thing about SLR (Single Lens Reflex) is that through a series of mirrors you actually look through the lens to take the picture. It’s WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get). It was only the most basic of SLRs. It had an automatic light meter: but was otherwise totally manual. You could adjust the f-stop (the amount of light the camera took in, and of course the focus. In addition you could choose the speed of film. 200 was good for bright days and general photography. 400 was better for action. 1000 was a favorite of mine for low light shots around the campfire. By then of course there was also color film. I decided to use film that was developed into slides. This saved me money because it was less expensive to develope the whole roll and I could get prints from the slides of the pictures I really liked.
Eventually the real camera revolution hit : digital technology came to replace film! My first digital camera was a SONY with a whopping 1.5 megapixel ( a megapixel equals 1000 dots per picture). However, the great thing about this camera was that it recorded onto a floppy disk. ( If you weren’t around for floppies, it was a thin square you put into your computer for memory. Memory cards and flash drives had not yet been invented. ) Instead of buying twenty rolls of film I carried along a box of floppy disks. It was a bit bulky. However, I didn’t have to pay to develop a single picture. I could just view them on my computer. I could print what I wanted myself. I even had software that let me do some of that wonderful darkroom manipulation without the chemicals etc.
As the revolution continued, I went from one digital camera to another, My favorite was another Kodax the Easyshare Z7590. It had a whooping five megapixel capability and a 10X zoom lense. In addition it could take movies. I just purchased another Kodax invention a waterproof digital camera.
However, after all these years I’m ready for another SLR camera. The price on a professional quality camera has come way down. You can get a great one for less than $1000. It seems that the best ones are either Canon or Nikon. I’m still researching before investing, but I can hardly wait.
Photography has come a long way during my life time. I’ve got many good years left and look forward to expanding this hobby when I eventually get to retire. I would encourage anyone who loves pictures to pick up a camera and start shooting. You can print out what you want at home. You can take them to Wal-Mart or your local drug store to print. You can post them on line, put them in a yearly calendar or even carry them on your keychain. You can play a screen saver on your big screen TV or digital picture frame.