N
nwcanonman
Guest
Joe,
Her FE came out in 1978. So, up from there ......?
Her FE came out in 1978. So, up from there ......?
Photography and Personal Identity
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back alley
IMAGES
man, i'm old...
joe
joe
N
nwcanonman
Guest
.........................backalley photo said:
Same thing I was thinking (about me), I'm older than all her cameras - LOL.
Come to think of it, I've never owned a camera older than me. They didn't have them before the invention of the wheel 😛 😛 😛
pwnewport
portable image
This is a great thread. It's so interesting to hear how you all got into image making, and the different values that activity holds.
I'm a third generation photographer. Both my grandmother and my mother were professional photographers. My grandmother was a portrait photographer who made her living as a single parent through the Depression as a retoucher, literaly sculpting pictures from 5X7 and 8X10 negatives with a knife made from a ground down hacksaw blade. You think I'm kidding?
My mother was a big shot fashion photographer in a prominent New York City advertising studio while all the men were on the front lines in WWII. When they came home they all got their jobs back and my mom was invited to resume work on her own as a portrait/wedding photographer. Ultimately, my mom and dad had two books of photographs published: one of Providence, Rhode Island, and another of Newport.
When I was a kid, my father cut a hole in the floor of our front hall closet to accomodate the head of their huge enlarger. I spent a good deal of time lying on my belly in the dark in that closet keeping tabs on my parents as they worked in their basement darkroom.
My dad was the gear head, keeping the studio equipment and the field kit together from one shoot to the next with chewing gum and baling wire. I still have my mother's Zeiss Ikon, although I have migrated the lens to a Century Graphic which sports a nice Kalart RF and a roll film back.
So basically I didn't have a chance. Photography was, is just what one does and cameras are how one does it. It's simple, really.
Because of my childhood experience, I have a predilection for images resolved on ground glass. There's a magic there that I can't describe: the way the image swims into view as one adjusts the lens and the shutter to the film plane. It' s so clear. That moment of resolution, for me, is what it's all about. I want to see it, not have it seen for me. Out of the dozens of pictures I might take on a shoot, its the handful that I remember in my head from focusing/framing that I go for first in production. There's that ah-ha moment that occurs (or not) before one trips the shutter that's somehow finally meaningful.
I think a lot of picture taking is influenced by temperment. Some of us are extroverted and make pictures to express ourselves. Others of us, like me, are introverted and take pictures to make meaning. Both are fine. I'm like, what the hell am I doing here/now with this gear, taking this shot? It's the picture that provides the answer, not the photographer who takes the picture. That's just what I think.
I'm a third generation photographer. Both my grandmother and my mother were professional photographers. My grandmother was a portrait photographer who made her living as a single parent through the Depression as a retoucher, literaly sculpting pictures from 5X7 and 8X10 negatives with a knife made from a ground down hacksaw blade. You think I'm kidding?
My mother was a big shot fashion photographer in a prominent New York City advertising studio while all the men were on the front lines in WWII. When they came home they all got their jobs back and my mom was invited to resume work on her own as a portrait/wedding photographer. Ultimately, my mom and dad had two books of photographs published: one of Providence, Rhode Island, and another of Newport.
When I was a kid, my father cut a hole in the floor of our front hall closet to accomodate the head of their huge enlarger. I spent a good deal of time lying on my belly in the dark in that closet keeping tabs on my parents as they worked in their basement darkroom.
My dad was the gear head, keeping the studio equipment and the field kit together from one shoot to the next with chewing gum and baling wire. I still have my mother's Zeiss Ikon, although I have migrated the lens to a Century Graphic which sports a nice Kalart RF and a roll film back.
So basically I didn't have a chance. Photography was, is just what one does and cameras are how one does it. It's simple, really.
Because of my childhood experience, I have a predilection for images resolved on ground glass. There's a magic there that I can't describe: the way the image swims into view as one adjusts the lens and the shutter to the film plane. It' s so clear. That moment of resolution, for me, is what it's all about. I want to see it, not have it seen for me. Out of the dozens of pictures I might take on a shoot, its the handful that I remember in my head from focusing/framing that I go for first in production. There's that ah-ha moment that occurs (or not) before one trips the shutter that's somehow finally meaningful.
I think a lot of picture taking is influenced by temperment. Some of us are extroverted and make pictures to express ourselves. Others of us, like me, are introverted and take pictures to make meaning. Both are fine. I'm like, what the hell am I doing here/now with this gear, taking this shot? It's the picture that provides the answer, not the photographer who takes the picture. That's just what I think.
siverta
Member
Just how old is the "average" RF user?
It seams that everyone I talk to that use a RF camera are almost twice my age (I´m 23 y.o).
Every article I have found on the Internet about RF cameras have been written by "old" people (no offence).
Sivert
(Man, I got to learn to write English again. Have problems with "is" and "are" rules =) )
It seams that everyone I talk to that use a RF camera are almost twice my age (I´m 23 y.o).
Every article I have found on the Internet about RF cameras have been written by "old" people (no offence).
Sivert
(Man, I got to learn to write English again. Have problems with "is" and "are" rules =) )
R
RML
Guest
siverta said:
Well, I just turned 35 yesterday....
.
DougK
This space left blank
I just turned 35 in February. I'd guess the average age on this forum is probably mid to late 30s based on a two-second glance at responses to the "how old are you" thread. I have noticed a fresh infusion of younger folks lately... good to see that film is alive and well no matter what they tell us.
Pherdinand
the snow must go on
i'm only 28 and a half. DOn't worry siverta.
Doug K, you know how young people are. Rebels. With today's digital "revolution" (meaning practically an overwhelming, should I say suffocating invasion of commercials for the newest digital point and shoots), i would expect that young people will get more and more sick of it and turn towards film-based and classic photo gear. It's just a matter of time.
Doug K, you know how young people are. Rebels. With today's digital "revolution" (meaning practically an overwhelming, should I say suffocating invasion of commercials for the newest digital point and shoots), i would expect that young people will get more and more sick of it and turn towards film-based and classic photo gear. It's just a matter of time.
W
wlewisiii
Guest
My first real photography was when I was stationed in the Army in Europe (Illeshiem, near Ansbach in Bavaria) back in 83-84. Then I stopped for a long time. When I moved to Madison 11 years ago I bought a Canon Rebel with an inexpensive 35-80 zoom and that served me well until about 2-3 years ago when, on a lark, I bought a YashicaMat 124G on Ebay. That was quite liberating in its own right and I learned how much I really like the 6x6 format. About a year ago (that's all???) I bought a Yashica GSN at a flea market, discovered this place while looking for information and it's been FSU and all downhill ever since ... 😀
I've been slowly finding what I like to do and how I like to do it. I need to shoot more with my Iskra and add some square shots to the barn series. As a stay-at-home dad, photography is my art that I can work on easily around taking care of my son.
The difficult part, for any of us I think, is finding what you enjoy doing in a given art form. It's much like a poet discovering a prefered format (sonnet, villanelle, linked tanka) and subject matter. You futz around (and even get something quite good occasionally) but untill you find that magic combination it's not quite there. I'm getting more comfortable with what I'm doing and if I'm not carefull, I might actually get good at this someday... 🙂
William
I've been slowly finding what I like to do and how I like to do it. I need to shoot more with my Iskra and add some square shots to the barn series. As a stay-at-home dad, photography is my art that I can work on easily around taking care of my son.
The difficult part, for any of us I think, is finding what you enjoy doing in a given art form. It's much like a poet discovering a prefered format (sonnet, villanelle, linked tanka) and subject matter. You futz around (and even get something quite good occasionally) but untill you find that magic combination it's not quite there. I'm getting more comfortable with what I'm doing and if I'm not carefull, I might actually get good at this someday... 🙂
William
oftheherd
Veteran
I'm the odd man out. I first got into photography because my father was in to it. He gave me a box camera. Couldn't hurt it much, and it didn't demand much to produce a picture. But I didn't really have any enthusiasm about it. Several years after my father died, in my first year of college, I got the bug again. Did some photos with some of his cameras, and enjoyed it. Got some nice photos at the local museum where I knew the director and other employees who endulged me. Lost interest until Vietnam, when I found polaroids made the people more friendly, but it was just snapshots for them. Got my first SLR there but didn't use it much until Korea.
Not long after I got to Korea the first time, I had to shot the scene of a breakin. I was given the office camera, an Instamatic (Sure wish I had that 4x5 Ted. I was trained in the use of it before going to Vietnam the first time.). I was apalled at the terrible photos I got. As soon as my SLR came in I was off and running. I had to, having shot off my mouth at how bad a camera the instamatic was, and that I know how to spell camera. Actually, I got the bug again. A trip to the local craft shop and an indulgent Korean instructor and I even began to learn how to develop and print as well as take photos. Revelation! Do any of the rest of you remember the emotion of watching that first print come up in the developer?
Got my first rangefinder not too long after, having read an article about how any self-respecting photographer should have one as a backup (?). It was some kind of Olympus, and I did kind of like it. Next came another SLR, then a TLR and after it was stolen, a rangefinder 6x7. I still have it. Meanwhile I was gaining sort of a reputation as a photographic expert (you know, in the land of the blind ...).
Two more trips to Korea and a couple of wins in the Korea portion of the Armed Services Photo Contest. I felt good. Between those tours, I taught several quarters of Evidence Photography (which meant I also had to teach photography first). I liked it. Photography was a passion and I was sure to try and get it in any conversation with people to try and interest them too.
Out of the Army and looking for a career in computers, going back to school ... Then disaster. A house fire. A lot of my older cameras damaged beyond keeping, but at least most of my most common users made it. My enlarger destroyed. All my negatives and slides damaged, especially the slides, over 7,000. That kind of experience can do something to you. At least it did to me. I haven't been able to get myself back in to it much since then. Just family snapshots from time to time.
In the last few years, I got a reasonably usable scanner, then a good Epson. I took a few more photos, but no real passion. A couple of large format cameras later, which I will really use some day, I still had not the passion of before. Then, suddenly, I became a grandfather and acquired a Toshiba 4300 digital. That combination has returned a lot of the passion. It is fun. So is my grandchild.
Then came the discovery of this forum, and the purchase of three rangefinder 35mm cameras. I guess there is (no) hope. I am on the road back. I don't photograph as much as I used to, but a lot more than during those dry years after the fire. I am really starting to enjoy again. I won't likely ever develop my own color negatives or slides again, but think I might like to start developing my own b/w film, and scanning some of my color and b/w negatives for printing. Just seeing where I go now may be part of the fun.
Now you know more than you ever wanted to know. Sorry for the long discourse. I guess part of the reason for writing this is that I think people should know that there may be things that discourage you in life, but give it time to go away and/or heal, and you can enjoy past pursuits again.
Not long after I got to Korea the first time, I had to shot the scene of a breakin. I was given the office camera, an Instamatic (Sure wish I had that 4x5 Ted. I was trained in the use of it before going to Vietnam the first time.). I was apalled at the terrible photos I got. As soon as my SLR came in I was off and running. I had to, having shot off my mouth at how bad a camera the instamatic was, and that I know how to spell camera. Actually, I got the bug again. A trip to the local craft shop and an indulgent Korean instructor and I even began to learn how to develop and print as well as take photos. Revelation! Do any of the rest of you remember the emotion of watching that first print come up in the developer?
Got my first rangefinder not too long after, having read an article about how any self-respecting photographer should have one as a backup (?). It was some kind of Olympus, and I did kind of like it. Next came another SLR, then a TLR and after it was stolen, a rangefinder 6x7. I still have it. Meanwhile I was gaining sort of a reputation as a photographic expert (you know, in the land of the blind ...).
Two more trips to Korea and a couple of wins in the Korea portion of the Armed Services Photo Contest. I felt good. Between those tours, I taught several quarters of Evidence Photography (which meant I also had to teach photography first). I liked it. Photography was a passion and I was sure to try and get it in any conversation with people to try and interest them too.
Out of the Army and looking for a career in computers, going back to school ... Then disaster. A house fire. A lot of my older cameras damaged beyond keeping, but at least most of my most common users made it. My enlarger destroyed. All my negatives and slides damaged, especially the slides, over 7,000. That kind of experience can do something to you. At least it did to me. I haven't been able to get myself back in to it much since then. Just family snapshots from time to time.
In the last few years, I got a reasonably usable scanner, then a good Epson. I took a few more photos, but no real passion. A couple of large format cameras later, which I will really use some day, I still had not the passion of before. Then, suddenly, I became a grandfather and acquired a Toshiba 4300 digital. That combination has returned a lot of the passion. It is fun. So is my grandchild.
Then came the discovery of this forum, and the purchase of three rangefinder 35mm cameras. I guess there is (no) hope. I am on the road back. I don't photograph as much as I used to, but a lot more than during those dry years after the fire. I am really starting to enjoy again. I won't likely ever develop my own color negatives or slides again, but think I might like to start developing my own b/w film, and scanning some of my color and b/w negatives for printing. Just seeing where I go now may be part of the fun.
Now you know more than you ever wanted to know. Sorry for the long discourse. I guess part of the reason for writing this is that I think people should know that there may be things that discourage you in life, but give it time to go away and/or heal, and you can enjoy past pursuits again.
kiev4a
Well-known
backalley photo said:
Tell me about it. Today, I was showing a woman at the office (who I thought was in my general age group) my Ansco Super Memar -- the first 35mm I ever used, at age 16. My mom bought it about 1961 for $125 which was a huge sum in those days. The co-worker said "1961? That's the year I was born!"
Now I feel even older.
pendevour
Just do it.
Photography is my passion and has been for about 40 years now. Started with my birthday present Halina 35X at age 16 which got me hooked, then to a Zenith SLR, Praktica LTL, Canon AE, A1, T90, EOS 100, rangefinders Voigtlander Vito B, Kiev4A, Bessa R and an EOS10D. I love it all, film, chemical processing, digital imaging but most of all making photographs. My pictures may not be the best but they're mine, I saw the subject, composed in the viewfinder, pressed the shutter button processed the image and ended up with the finished photograph and most importantly a lot of pleasure and enjoyment. Expensive hobby but priceless fun!
The following quote from Osho, with an insertion by myself, says it all:
“You can be a carpenter, you can be a dancer, (you can be a photographer) - that does not matter. What is important is that the work gives you bliss, gives you peace, and brings you more awareness. Whatever makes your life a life of gratitude will
do. The work is not important but what happens within you, doing the work; that
is the point!”
Enjoy making photographs.
Arfon
The following quote from Osho, with an insertion by myself, says it all:
“You can be a carpenter, you can be a dancer, (you can be a photographer) - that does not matter. What is important is that the work gives you bliss, gives you peace, and brings you more awareness. Whatever makes your life a life of gratitude will
do. The work is not important but what happens within you, doing the work; that
is the point!”
Enjoy making photographs.
Arfon
Stephanie Brim
Mental Experimental.
I'll be 22 next Sunday. I'm a young one...though, due to being ill, today I feel about 90.
back alley
IMAGES
22!
i think i have shoes older than you!
😉joe
i think i have shoes older than you!
😉joe
Stephanie Brim
Mental Experimental.
I have clothing older than me. My mother had this really old t-shirt in the 70s when she was in high school that I still wear once in a while.
kiev4a
Well-known
Stephanie Brim said:
Hah! There is hope for the world 🙂
"And a child shall lead them" (No offense intended, Stephanie). Nice to see someone your age with your values.
N
nwcanonman
Guest
Well I'm older than Stephanie's mom, but I just realized I DO own a camera older than myself.
I've got an old No. 1 Pocket Kodak produced around the time my father was born. The bellows is a "light seive" now, so it's just for display on top of the camera case. It's still quite beautiful to look at and well made - like me - ROFLMAO .............
I've got an old No. 1 Pocket Kodak produced around the time my father was born. The bellows is a "light seive" now, so it's just for display on top of the camera case. It's still quite beautiful to look at and well made - like me - ROFLMAO .............
Roger Hicks
Veteran
Well, you CAN work at what you like doing: in my case, photography and writing. You don't usually earn much money -- I'd have done far better fnancially if I'd stuck with the law or accountancy -- but money ain't everything. My brother, who is far more conventional than I, once paid more in school fees for my two nephews than my wife and I earned in the same year (mid-90s). So? I'll back my lifestyle any day.
Cheers,
Roger (www.rogerandfrances.com -- where there's a whole lot more about that lifestyle)
Cheers,
Roger (www.rogerandfrances.com -- where there's a whole lot more about that lifestyle)
Stephanie Brim
Mental Experimental.
If you have a job where you can afford a Leica you're doing better than me, Roger. Then again, I *am* young and have yet to get a college degree. 😛
24x30
I don't know my own mind
This was a great one 🙂backalley photo said:
But now I had some time to think about ... First I thought 'oh, are they all old ... something about 'grandfather-forum' ... but then I discovered my first photo is more than 30 years old, my first own photographer died more than 25 years ago. My Kidz went 4 last week ... what else?
Nothing more to say.CleverName said:
/rudi (nearly 36)
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