This is my first blog post and I'm staring at my computer screen wondering how on earth I am going to do this. I worked with writers for many years as a Newspaper photographer and I've got to say that it was amazing how they churned out stories on a day to day basis, good vocabularies I guess. Whenever photographs are taken it is always wise to shoot from your heart and get involved with your subject, try to make a connection. So that is how I am going to approach this Blog writing dilemma, from the heart and about photography. When I started this adventure almost four decades ago I was taught the finer arts of using a large format view camera and actually used one, a Sinar, professionally for many years. A 4X5 view camera in the studio and a 35mm film camera for newspaper assignments or the odd wedding, it was a simpler time. The Sinar sits majestically on a bookshelf in my office, seen whenever sitting at the computer, still functioning as well as it did when attending college. It really is a thing of beauty and almost appears to be fashioned from a single block of brass, great workmanship and this same camera paid many bills and helped buy a house for our family, I look on it fondly and I will never sell it.
On the same shelf is a Nikon D1 digital camera that cost around $8000.00 in 1996 and as you know it was a revolutionary camera at the time because anything else that was available was closer to $30,000 dollars. I remember choking at the price but bought the D1 anyway as it too was going to make me money. When I arrived at the Toronto newspaper I was stringing for I proudly showed a photo editor my new acquisition and she promptly asked me if I had purchased a laptop computer to go along with it, the penny dropped and $4000.00 later I was all set to go. Welcome to the digital age!
So it's been a constant parade of digital camera bodies and laptop computers for the past 20 years but I must admit that I do love digital and how it has accelerated my workflow and how the instant gratification of seeing results appear in the rear monitor, you know you've got it before you leave and nail biting is a thing off the past. Just like my Sinar view camera is a thing of the past I still remember the days when the purchase of of a good camera could get you through a career. My how things have changed!