Introduce yourself

Welcome to MASH, my name is Joel and I have been doing photography since I was old enough to hold a camera, granted that had not been a continuous activity for me. While I was in high school, I played around with photography just for S&G and did some for the year book. While I was in the Navy, I kept a camera with me when it was allowed and I wasn't in a secure area, which wasn't very often as that was the nature of my job. When I got out I went to the Memphis College of Art and studied photography in more detail than the amateur that I was prior. During that time I did photography semi-pro and made some good money but it wasn't consistent and as I was a new father with a family to support my wife "suggested" that I find something that payed a little better and more consistently and so I took a break and became domesticated. Now here I am years later and I'm getting more involved with photography than I had in the last twenty years and having a blast as it comes back to me in spurts.

Well that's my story, kind of, now let's hear what yours is.

I love the M*A*S*H acronym: makes us seem like we're out there doing our analog thing in a hostile digital territory. ;-)

I'm Terry, my husband and I live in the Frayser area of Memphis (I'm an Arkansas transplant), and I started doing photography seriously just over two years ago. I'd always liked to shoot pictures, but as a kid I had 110 and Polaroid, so I never really knew anything better. I had a mid-life crisis a couple years ago and very nearly went back to college to pursue a degree in photography, but given the financial realities, I decided it was better to teach myself and get together a good portfolio. It's paid off: I had my first real paying gig last year and have gotten many compliments, even if I'm still stuck at a day job I hate. Oh well!

This past year, I decided that part of my photographic curriculum should be learning how to process film just like any other photography student, so I leapt right in. I haven't gotten into printing yet, but I'm hoping I can start doing some of that this year, even if it's just contact printing. For now, I've settled on a hybrid workflow, developing my own negs and then scanning them to prepare them to print digitally. I still use digital for my serious shoots, but nearly all of my personal artistic work has gone over to film. This coming year I'm hoping to really start shooting with my 4x5 Graflex Crown Graphic more, which will further enable my learning contact printing. I'm on the lookout now for an enlarger and all the trimmings, though I really don't have a clue at this point in time.

I'm generally free late afternoons and weekends for photowalks or for learning/teaching.

Terry, the offer is open if you would like to use the enlarger, that would save you the expense and it does up to 4x5.

Joel