The Early Film Years

Wow, is it every muggy out there today! Good day to catch up on here, although part of me really wants to finish this layout I'm working on.

I became interested in photography at a really young age. My maternal grandfather was an amateur photographer and dabbled in all aspects of it. It was him who showed us 8mm movies on the pull down screen at every holiday, and I moaned when it was old films of old people, how I wish I had those films now! It was also him who handed over his darkroom equipment when I was 15 and taking photography classes in school. I set up in my parents home and became enchanted with the 4 x 4 negatives my grandfather gave me of my mom when she was younger.

I took photography in high school, and again in college, although I became a secretary because my dad told me it was a job I could fall back on if anything every happened to my husband. I guess he pretty much figured out I was going to marry the kid I was dating, and although he was headed for Wall Street, he did take that NYC Fire Department exam, so it was good advice at the time!

Years later, when it was time to go back to work, I found a job taking pictures of kids in school. (yeah, the ones that you usually hated the way your kids looked, hey! it wasn't our fault, we had 20 minutes to take 30 kids) I was so excited that I was able to call my grandfather and tell him I had gotten a job as a photographer. A year later he died of a massive heart attack. I retired from that job about 2 years ago, the same time DH retired from the Fire Department (yes, he did switch jobs!)

I still had the same Minolta SR100 that my parents bought me in high school. It was banged up, beat up, and even dropped in Lake George when I was 16, but I held fast to the fact that I was NEVER going digital. HAHAHAHAHA First, the Minolta pretty much was giving me fits (although DD#2, getting her Masters in Photography still uses it from time to time) So I went out and bought a nice 35mm Nikon with all kinds of lenses. Of couse, being new, it was all electronic and didn't really last all that long. It was about then that I realized if I had a digital I could take a kabillion pictures and delete the ones I didn't like, or take all those artsy pictures I was always afraid to take because I had to pay for them to get developed. So I headed to Best Buy and bought my first digital camera, a Nikon, small point and shoot, slow as anything, but I was hooked! I now use a Nikon D50, and all my original lenses fit on this camera, plus I've bought a few more. Unfortunately for me, DD#2 has the D500 or something like that, and I really want it, but can't justify the need!

I also carry a small Canon in my bag, I mean really, I'm a scrapper, you never know when I'll need to document something!

coming next....

The Start of Scrapping