I was 12 when I started to photograph. My mom was a young, single parent, we were on welfare, while she was going to school and working fulltime. She some how received a scholarship for me to go to a private school during the summer. Needless to say, I did not want to go. The counselor stated they had a photography class, and I said I did not have a camera, so that would be pointless. My mom then promissed me that if I went to summer school for her, she would buy me a camera so I can take the photography class. It was the only promise she ever kept, and this was the one thing that kept me out of trouble all throughout my youth.
The camera was an olympus OM-1 with a 50mm lens. I eventually sold it, along with the oter lenses I acquired for RF.
Those were the days . . .