I started making photos when I was 8 yo.
By the time I got to High School (1968), I was already experienced with the Minolta 16P I bought for myself, and my grandfather loaned me his 1947 Rolleiflex. I joined the camera club, or "Photo Staff" as we called it ... we supplied photos for the school newsletter and the yearbook. I bought (with the help of an uncle) my first Nikon F Photomic FTn in my second year. I also became the Photo Staff Chief that year.
Most of my friends were either guys in the Photo Staff (all of whom had cameras or borrowed cameras from the Photo Staff cabinet), or students or teachers around the school I photographed. A couple of the guys from the Photo Staff are still friends today, and still do some photography; one has a job doing it, occasionally.
There were many times in my life when I barely had money to buy dinner, but in my life after I started High School there was never a time when I didn't have at least one camera. 🙂
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