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I want to share my story about how photography came into my life and how it has changed my view of the world.
I have never liked photogrphy at all. I had an old polaroid camera as a teenager and took dumb pictures of my brother, dogs and friends. I still have the photos. They still look dumb. In 1974, as a junior in high school, I had a rough time, in my opinion. I finished all of my required courses, even my senior stuff and my mom would not let me get a job anywhere, to get out of school early. She said that I had the rest of my life to work and wasn't going to while in school. That meant that I would have to find any and all junk classes, I called them, to fill up 6 classes per day. Things like, sewing, cooking, rotc, office aide, counselor aide and photography. Little did I know that taking that last class would change my world forever.
We learned the principles of photography, learned how to set up a dark room, use the chemicals and then had to make a box camera. I thought this was the dumbest thing in the whole world. I guess you can imagine at this point that I really wasn't interested, but I made one and set up a make shift dark room on my closet floor in my bedroom at home. The closet was dark except for the light under the door, so I put a towel along the edge and got a red light and was ready to develop pictures.
Our first assignment was to take a picture of an interesting building in our small town of College Park, GA. Beside the school was an old house that everyone said a old witch lived in. Of course I was afraid to walk past it, but the house was very different looking than any other building in town. I set out to take a picture with my loaded box camera. To get the right angle and level, I needed to find something to set the camera on. The only thing around was a parked car, so I set the box camera on top of the car, pulled the divider out and started my timer. I went home and rushed to the closet, poured my chemicals in the pans and unloaded my camera. As the photo started showing up on the paper, I got a shock. By setting the camera on the top of the car, I also got a reflection of the house on the car. It was awesome. Look for your self. Now remember this picture is 31 years old and was scanned into the computer.
As time went on, I decided that I wanted a real camera, so I got a manual Pentax 35mm. I learned to do everything. But all I photographed was family and friends, nothing else. Then my husband's cousin ask me to photograph her wedding. I was shocked, but the pictures came out really nice. So, I thought maybe I wasn't half bad.
I then got an auto 35mm and still didn't take picture of anything except family and friends. Nothing special. My next camer was a digital Canon P85. I thought that I had died and gone to heaven. I took pictures of everything I could and put them on the computer, but, things weren't quite right. I started taking pictures of my grandsons at the same time that their mother was. She had a Panasonic DMC FZ20. My pictures were a little fuzzy and hers were crystal clear. I was furious and decided that photography just wasn't for me.
And then one day, my husband said that I could take one of my paychecks and do anything I wanted to with it. We were refinancing the house and would have some extra money. My first thought was to get a Panasonic camera. I started checking out every reference that I could find about the camera and decided to get one.
Boy has that camera been through a workout and I bet it wishes that I would let it rest for just one day. I have been taking pictures of everything in sight. Now when I walk out into the yard, I look for a photo opportunity. I look at something now as if it was on paper.
I used to be the shyest person on this earth and wouldn't talk to anyone unless I absolutely had to. I didn't even like to call someone that I didn't know and would not speak to a stranger on the street. Now with the enjoyment of photography, I will stop at someone's house and ask can I take a photograph of flowers in their yard. A big difference in life.
I now love to take pictures of flowers, insects and cemeteries. With taking a simple black and white, self developed picture taken in a box camera, I reaslized just how much I love photography. Having a good camera makes a big difference. I now look at everything different. I take day trips around Georgia to see what I can see. It's not that strange for me to come home with a couple hundred pictures to download to the computer. I keep my camera in my purse, just in case I find something to shoot. You never can tell.
I really enjoy this site, which gives me encouragement to explore all the possibilities in front of me. I have found out that I really don't like photographing people, although, I still shoot pics of the grandsons every chance I get.
My husband now goes through the pictures I take and pick the ones that he wants framed and put on walls in our house, and that's strange seeing your own pictures hanging around the house. But I have to say, I kinda like it.
I really love the nature part of the world. I now notice things that I didn't know even exsisted.
Love, Shoot and Share!
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