Told through various camera lenses
- 1980s: Absolutely useless time, was not productive at all, didn’t even know what a camera was back then.
- Subjects… None. Motor skills as undeveloped as the rolls I never shot
- 1990s: Mostly used disposable cameras – as we could afford occasionally – from the grocery store. Did not read, or study, or practice.
- Subjects… Family, a cake or candle, my basketball hoop, a swingset, a tire
- 2000s: Parents got me a Kodak Cameo type camera for a trip to South America. My hunt for fun subjects at the airport got me interrogated before my maiden flight. Almost missed the trip. Story for another day. Moral of the story, though – sometimes ask for permission rather than forgiveness 🙂
- Subjects… trip mates and the people I encountered, spider monkeys, spiders, the occasional capybara, and the Amazon. This camera was mostly special occasions as we could afford film. I also did one winter photo walk with this camera, and it was my first photo walk!
- This trip (not the interrogation haha) was a turning point for a lot of things in my life and my worldview. And I scrounged up the money for 10 rolls of film, and relatives chipped in for another 10, so I was able to shoot around 400-500 shots. That’s a lot of shots for film! From that point on, I was hooked.
- I grew up idolizing landscape photography, but the surprising focus of this trip was local everyday street photography and human interaction. I also took photos of spiders, carnivorous plants, and monkeys, but this trip mostly taught me a lot about life and the importance of empathy and relationships. Saw a lot of that down there.
- 2004: Received a Canon Rebel Ti from a family member, and an SLR book and a Landscape Photography guidebook. I read those front to back, back to front, but I couldn’t afford regular access to film! And I mean, I couldn’t afford to buy it, OR process it. So, with their permission, I ended up selling that for books money for college, and promptly forgot everything I learned
- Subjects… Ships in the Harbor, and Sunrise on Cadillac Mountain, Bar Harbor, ME,
- 2006: Due to the emergence of digital cameras (and my astute recognition that film will land you in the poor-house), I pounced on an Olympus Stylus Verve for very cheap, and it enabled me to snap hundreds of photos to my heart’s content. I did not learn anything, but I captured some fun memories. And also, no one loved the camera at the time, but a lot are happy for what it captured.
- Subjects: various photo contests, a Happiness project, house parties, college goings-on, family gatherings
- Late-2000’s to Mid-2010s: Early versions of smartphones. I didn’t get an iPhone until 2018, so my little Moto worked overtime, for a long time. What a gift – I never have to use film again, and Gmail has unlimited storage. Godsend.
- Subjects… Graduation stuff, Patriots, Red Sox, and Celtics parades – for which I will never apologize – hikes, friends’ weddings, Greater Boston
- 2015: I purchased an early Sony mirrorless kit from Best Buy, ahead of a trip I planned for my father to the American Southwest. Starting in Las Vegas, Nevada, I took him to Salt Lake City, Moab, and St. George, UT. An otherworldly road trip, and left a mark on me. I still have that Landscape Photography Guidebook, and it helped me approach some fun shots there.
- Subjects… Selfies, the American Southwest, National parks, Las Vegas Strip, and a very cool Ford Mustang convertible
- This camera was supposed to be my headfirst dive into intentional photography, but life unfortunately got in the way of that progress. I was able to bring it along to a few other trips, a few music festivals, but it largely went unused for almost a decade. I took the collateral hit from the Financial Crisis, and that left me hustling for much longer than I wanted, in order to find a stable career with quality of life. I got there, just late. And that’s kind of where I’m at now. I have the time to do this, and have always had the desire to progress, so here we go!
- 2024: I sold that Sony this year, and purchased a Nikon Z7ii mirrorless camera. I rented a few cameras before then, and liked the ergonomics of the Nikon best. This year has been a dream come true. I have the means, the time, the desire to progress – and I am. But I only found out about White Balance in February! I’m happy to say, now, that photography is much less a mystery than before. Looking back, I think I understood composition, and a compelling subject, but the mechanics of photography were an alien thing to me. And even though I could distill complex financial concepts, and Microsoft excel, when someone tried to explain the exposure triangle or aperture I straight up panicked. But I got over myself and it’s been a great year.
I have a favorite moment to share, at least as it pertains to this narrow journey. Some time in May, this year, I was taking blue-hour photos of Boston Harbor. Among the requirements for that type of photography, depending on the subject, is a tripod. I had my backpack splayed open, some gear peeking out, and my rented camera set up on a cheap tripod for some time lapse as well as some motion-blur stuff, and I had so many people come up to me and ask what I was trying to capture. I loved it! But … I did NOT anticipate the attention. I was genuinely surprised at the curiosity and enthusiasm for my pursuits (I guess I’d never been the subject myself!). But there was another notable, genuine sentiment of “Oh I could never do that myself! You look so professional!”
Well, I’m not, and I’m just as much a beginner as you are, kind passers-by, so let’s see if we can prove that anyone can do this, together.