Time for Re-introductions and Mini Bio's

[Nicole]

I've been here a few years now and apug has grown quite a bit, it's sometimes difficult to keep up. So I thought it would be a nice time for (re-)introductions of old and new members with a brief bio about yourself. Will you play? Here's mine...

I'm a black & white fine art photographer in Australia and an all-film girl. My style is my own and I remain true to my vision. I've owned three pro digi cameras which sit in the cupboard, never seeing the light of day. I rarely buy anything new, love pre-loved old stuff and am allergic to clutter. I'm not neat, but passionate about my work and top quality is high on my list of personal satisfaction. I love red wine and balmy evenings amongst good friends. My darkroom currently (don't quote me next month) plays a mix of Carla Bruni, Norah Jones, Bad Company, Jack Johnson and Pete Murray... and a towering stack of jazz and blues. I'm a traveller, a pilot, a diver, a skier, a skater, a mother, a wife, a writer, a reader, a gardener and an oh-so-free spirit.

 

[BWGirl]

Nice bio, Nicole! Welcome again! I'll play, too.

I'm an ever-learning, ever-evolving, ever-laughing person who happened upon b&w photography late in life. I don't know what my style is, or where I left it, so if anyone finds it, I hope they will let me know so I can pick it up. I abhor the overly-serious and the overly-self-important. :rolleyes:

If I could pick a smiley that best reflects my personality it would be . Iwill and do go out of my way to help people...even though I am often taken advantage of as a result. Such is life! I'm a woman, a wife, a mom, a grandma and I love life.

 

[reellis67]

I've been photographing stuff for about 35 years now, and I consider myself to be an amateur photographer (meaning “one who engages in a pursuit, study, science, or sport as a pastime rather than as a profession“ according to ye olde dictionary). I don't like a lot of fiddly calculations or electronic gadgets – instead I rely on a simple light meter and my own experience to guide me. I use old cameras and use mostly black and white film, with just a little color thrown in where the subject required it. I prefer to do all my own processing by hand, by I do occasionally send out E-6. I do all my own printing in the bathroom/darkroom ( a handy thing during long printing sessions!). Much of what I photograph is for my own interest, although I have been influenced by a number of different photographers over the years. I'm not into competition and I don't belong to any camera clubs or interest groups outside of APUG.

My wife calls me 'Eclectic' and everyone else calls me odd, or worse. I prefer to spend my free time outdoors hiking and canoing, but I also enjoy drawing, painting, reading. I generally only spend time on the computer when I'm at work or if I'm otherwise trapped in the house. I am aspiring to be an archivist, preferably working with visual media like photographs and other artwork, and would become a nomadic wanderer in a heartbeat if I ever manage to hit the damned lottery. Congratulations to you if your still awake after all of that - you now know more about me than I do!

- Randy

P.S. Nicole, this was a great idea - I've spoken with many people here who I know little or nothing about, so it will be nice to have some background on these characters.

 

[Buster6X6]

Love of my life is flying. At 16 got my glider pilots licence ,18 PPL 19, 2 years inYAF as a reservist. Already then I was interested in photographing and movie making(8mm)Circumstances beyond my control I had to move to West Germany. No chances of pursuing flying career (no fly zone in those days). I worked and made countless photographs and movies( still have my Nizo camera)By this time I had a family and on the move again.In 75 came to Canada . This time it took me about 3 years to get Canon AE1 with all the lenses I also started painting( another passion of mine) Mostly oil and pensil/pastels. I always liked old stuff never was I interested in cutting edge technology.Then I found Apug in 04 and totaly changed my prospective and aim. Thanks to my friend who introduced me to MF/LF field by selling me his equipment. And nice people on this forum like Jim Galli who sold me 8X10 camera . Now my life is sleeping, eating, camera ,film, paper chemicals exposing all that film ,developing . From all I love learning new things and large format gave me something to look forward to every day, it has become 24/7 deal. I still paint and draw when I am off work in winter months. But photography is here to stay. Hopefully soon I will be able to produce prints that I can be proud of.

Cheers Greg

 

[rexp]

I don't post often enough to be known by many... but since you asked.

I started playing with cameras in 8th grade, and have been at it since. I still remember laying on my back inside of a trunk loading a tank (couldn't wait 'till evening, and it was the darkest place in the house). Now I am graced with a REAL darkroom thanks to the digital revolution (gotta love the folks selling off their gear). Typically take photos of family, some "sort of" formal, some not. Lots of soccer picts (my daughter & her team) plus all the other odds & ends that seem to enthrall us along the way. Only last year did anyone actually offer money for any of my prints (commissioned for about a dozen), yet I try to keep things firmly planted in reality. I figure trying to become a "professional" would take a lot of the fun out of this hobby, and I am very content with where I am in this adventure. I have had prints in a couple of shows at one of the local art galleries, and I have a couple of prints hanging in the local coffee shop. I have been going to a local "community" radio station & photographing some of the live goings-on, and to a few bars where there is live music. Some of these have turned out quite nice indeed. I do a little digital, but mostly B&W. I wish I could get the control over color like I have over B&W - maybe I should try Ilfochrome.

I too loved flying. Solo'ed on my 16th birthday, but dang the time in a plane gets expensive. Gave up flying and instead poured my cash into the lake, skiing. My wife & I spent many years skiing our hearts out and loved it. Was able to do a deep-water start on a slalom ski, backwards (consistently!). Had a riot. I did skydiving for a few years to stay close to the airplanes, but that is a sport where you really want to stay current. When I started building a house I sold my rig 'cause I figured I didn't need the temptation to go jump once every few months.

Over the last 5 years or so I have gotten more serious about photography, and have taken a few classes to help open up the "artsy" side of the brain. Being an Engineer makes the technical side a breeze, sometimes at the expense of being able to see.

Did I mention how much I appreciate APUG and all you great folks? If you are ever passing thru Nebraska, I'll buy lunch.

 

[Whiteymorange]

I guess I'll chime in. I'm a painter, a potter, a printmaker and a photographer who has been teaching middle and secondary school kids now for 32 years, the last 29 of which have been in a boys school outside of Boston. I have a real interest in family history and in the things we leave behind. I love old equipment and the sense of history that comes with family albums and with the tools and possessions that come down from generation to generation. I'm a bit of a pack rat (OK, so that's an understatement.) I shoot any camera that happens to be in my hands at the moment, from 126 film through 8x10

I am embarking on a full year's sabbatical and hope to spend it as a working artist, combining photography with my printmaking (intaglio and serigraphic) and painting skills.

I tend to drive careful people crazy because I have never changed one variable at a time in my experiments - too much fun to throw it all in the air and see what happens. I will, therefore, never be a truly skilled photographer, but I do have a good time.

 

[bjorke]

I am a "media artist" (whatever that really means) and consultant, primarily working these days in the games industries but also with a long history in motion pictures, TV, print, celphones, even theme park rides. Basically, my attitude is that if there are pictures involved, I'm interested. I am format-agnostic and materials-agnostic and continue to use my film cameras because I like the way they operate in the hand. Digitals have their own characteristics. Both are better, both are worse, both, IMO, have uses. Most of the film I shoot goes through newer MF and 35mm rangefinders.

 

[David Brown]

I am employed by the United States Government doing analysis of security systems that I can't tell you about. I was born and raised in Texas and they won't let me leave for some reason. I have been married to the same woman for 25 years and neither of us has yet to figure out why. She is a real artist, and so I can make no claims. We have no kids (we do know why on this one!) but are the property of two large dachshunds who run the household.

I have already had my mid-life crisis, in which I sank many thousands of dollars into convertibles and BMWs before buying the Honda I'm now driving. My current folly is hoping the Texas Rangers will get a decent pitcher.

I am a recovering wedding photographer. And, I'm actually an android and am forced to use fully mechanical cameras and film since the electronics of digital and even auto-focus film cameras interferes with my positronic neural network.

 

[Magnus W]

When I was seven, our family moved into a newly built house. Since my father and -- to lesser degree -- my mother both were into photography, the new house was equipped with a darkroom. I spent many hours there, and to this day printing the pictures is a wonderful and magical experience for me. Some people have accused me of taking pictures only to have something to print.
I am not the most orderly of people. In theory, you should take careful notes of what you are doing in order to be able to -- for instance -- replicate a print. I tend more to wing it. Print on instinct. I develope film with great care, taking notes and trying variables until I am satisfyed, then I stick with it. The printing on the other hand, is very much by the seat of my pants.
I worked in the oh-so-hip media and advertising circus for many years until this rat refused to race any further. After six years of rehabilitation I am starting to apreciate life again. Stress related burnout is a b**ch. Don't go that way.
I am alomost totally a black-and-white photographer, and the only digigizmo I own is my cameraphone -- which I almost never use.
I am a middle aged, balding gentleman of leisure with a lot of books, a lot of music, and a fair amount of friends. I have a hard time thinkig of myself as being in the mid-forties. Most of my friends are in the mid-thirties, and my taste in music and popular culture ranges very wide. I blame this on the ten years lost in the rat-race.
As of now, I am treasurer in the local Photoclub (est. 1941) where I also do my printing. We have a great darkroom and studio.
Besides photography I amuse myself with cooking, aquaristics, reading, listening to music, drawing, painting, classic cars, boardgames, and role-playing games. Yes I am a Dungeons and Dragons geek. Albeit in my case the games of choice are RuneQuest and Call of Cthulhu.
I am also involved in the student organisations of Uppsala, where I have been active for over twenty years.
My tools of the trade is a couple of pentax LX's, a Pentax 645n, and a Hasselblad 500c/m. I am pondering the purchase of a 8x10, but not until summer. At earliest. Maybe.

-- MW

 

[eddym]

I am in my mid-50's, which is to say old enough to know better, but also old enough that I don't give a damn. I'm looking forward to becoming really eccentric as I age.
I've been shooting film since 1977. I started when my father in law gave me an old no-name rangerfinder 35mm camera that had a pretty good German 50mm f2.8 lens. Then my brother loaned me his Gray Rolleiflex 3.5T. That did it, I was hooked. I've shot sports, portraits, weddings, and just whatever I see that I like.
In 1984 My wife & I moved from Georgia (USA) to Puerto Rico and never looked back. I worked for a few years for the Navy Resale system before I quit in disgust and dedicated myself to taking pictures for a living. I'm still trying to make a living at it. I shoot dance and theater, portraits, weddings if forced to, and (still) whatever I see that I like. I shoot Leicas, Nikons, Rollei 6003 and 2.8F TLR, Linhof Tech V, and just picked up a Hasselblad 501CX.
I had a fling with digital, because so many of my clients were calling for it. I went through thousands of dollars on printers, ink, paper, and cameras, before I realized that I can just walk into my darkroom and make a beautiful print with my enlarger, and not have to spend hours hunched over a computer. I feel like I've come back home again from a debauch!
Thank heavens for film, and for APUG!

 

[Gay Larson]

Nice idea, Nicole, since there are so many new subscribers here lately. And we all like to talk about our love of photography. I consider myself a serious amateur photographer. By that I mean I am serious about learning all I can about photography so I can be the very best I can be. I have a day job in Television advertising at an ABC Television station but I live for the weekends when I can get my hands in chemicals in my darkroom or go out a shoot a lot of film. I mainly use a medium format camera but dream of using an 8X10. I have friends who can not understand why I don't use my digital more, but I love film and old cameras. I just keep telling them it's my nature to go backwards besides, I sit at a computer most of the day and don't care to on my own time except the come to this site.
Like Jeanette, I am a wife, a mother, a grandmother, have a career, do volunteer work and generally love my life most every day. Thanks to APUG I have learned a great deal during the two years I've been here and met some great people. I hope to meet more in the future.

 

[FrankB]

Good idea, Nicole.

I'm a UK-based IT generalist, working in software testing / support. I appear to be a purist (rather to my own surprise) - I prefer red wine, dark chocolate, black coffee, neat single malt scotch and (the exception that proves the rule) Caesar cocktails.

I've been making photographs seriously since the turn of the millenium. Currently, I use 135 and 6x6 formats, mainly traditional B&W with a little E6 thrown in from time to time. The materials I use are Ilford papers and paper chems, Ilford Delta film emulsions and Paterson Aculux 2 film developer. I have a Nikon F80 135 kit, a Mamiya C330S TLR kit and a pair of Rollei 35's (that I have yet to master!).

I appear to be following the standard four-step male approach to photography - Gadgets, Technique, Composition and (eventually) Art. This annoys the hell out of me (I dislike being pigeon-holed - even (especially) by me)! However, I seem to be through most of the first three and am starting to sidle up to the last one... ...which should take me the rest of my life!

As to what I point my cameras at... ...I find landscapes to be far more patient than people. I love contre-jour light, dawns and dusks, mists and hazes. Light through leaves is a particular favourite of mine.

At the APUG UK Gatherings, I'll be the loud slaphead in the corner with the pint in front of him and, probably, a grin on his face and a twinkle in his eye (which is unusual for a miserable bugger like me!). I hope I'll see you there!

 

[SuzanneR]

A re-introduction...

For the moment, mostly a wife, a mom and a photographer. (Although, that order changes from day to day! ) Went to art school back in the early 80's and was disappointed to discover art alone wouldn't pay the bills, so I worked as a photo editor at a couple of magazines for a number of years. Ok... quite a number of years!

Got married, quit the whole magazine scene, had the kids and wanted "nekkid bebe" pix in b/w!!

Snowballed from there, built the darkroom, and building a small portrait business which allows me some time with my kids, and some time with my art, and I find myself very much doing what I did in art school!

That's pretty much it in a nutshell.

 

[PatTrent]

I've been here a few years now and apug has grown quite a bit, it's sometimes difficult to keep up. So I thought it would be a nice time for (re-)introductions of old and new members with a brief bio about yourself. Will you play?

I'm a retired attorney who was a photojournalist for a small local newspaper in my youth (mostly focused on sports), and have been madly in love with all things photographic as long as I can remember. I bought my first serious camera 37 years ago, a Canon AE-1.

I have many cameras (even after selling several of them last year) but mostly use my Nikon FM2n and Hasselblad 500C/M with a set of lenses for each.

I expect to continue shooting film forever and developing my own monochrome (mostly Ilford and a little bit of Tri-X) and will continue to use Kodachrome as long as possible (sending it to Dwayne's, of course).

Sadly, I find making wet prints under my circumstances (having to use my laundry room and rarely finding enough continuous time to set it up, print, take it down, etc., with a newly replaced knee) is no longer the pleasure it used to be for me. So I will scan and print with an inkjet. In fact, my entire darkroom, including two enlargers (but not film developing equipment), is up for auction on eBay, and the money will go towards a new scanner.

Long live film!--Even if I have to scan it.

Pat

 

[bmccarthy007]

Sure, I'll play. I've been shooting pictures for 25 years, always pining for the day I would have a darkroom to play in. Well, 5 years ago I moved into a house with one already in it and over the past couple of years I've slowly started to acquire the requisite gear. I always shot a fair amount of b&w, or more than your average shutterbug. When I was finally ready to make prints, it was such a thrill to take out some negatives from 10 or 20 years ago and bring them to life myself. A few months later I took the plunge and started processing film. That was a little over a year ago.

So far, I've been teaching myself, having fun experimenting, and learning a boatload from all of you. I took the plunge into MF when I picked up a C330 last year. My 35mm standbys are some old Mamiya DTLs, the first of which I inherited from my father - others picked up over the years at sidewalk & tag sales, etc. I never made the move to auto-focus, let alone digiital. I don't always have as much time to spend on pursuit of my photography as I'd like, but I'm very happy when shooting and working in the darkroom. Sticking mostly w/b&w, for now, although all those transparencies I've shot over the years are crying out for me to try chrome.

So far, I've enjoyed a couple of postcard exchanges and I'm looking forward to meeting up with the New England group sometime soon. The postcards have been a great hit with my family. They provide such a tangible connection to people near & far.

Career-wise, I'm a civil/environmental engineer, working in a consulting firm, where most of my work for the past 10 or 15 years has revolved around the investigation and remediation of former manufactured gas plant sites. Being a husband, dad to three children, and little league basball umpire are my other current major life pursuits.

So glad that I found APUG - such a great community of people willing to share their art & themselves unconditionally.

Brian

 

[johnnywalker]

I've been interested in photography since I was about 16, mainly due to the influence of a favourite uncle. About 9 years ago, I decided to devote some real time to it and make it a hobby. This coincided with the realization that I should have some record of the places I traveled to in the course of my work, and my conclusion that at 56 I had used up more than my lifetime allotment of alcohol.
I now have 4 Nikon 35mm cameras (two FM types and two electronic types) with bunches of lenses, a 4x5 Toyo with 3 lenses, lots of gadgets, and a small but pretty complete darkroom where I can develop and print my black and white.
I'm a forester, and for the last 30 years I've been involved almost exclusively with overseas projects- Asia mostly, but also Africa, the Middle East, Oceana, and Latin America - but I've spent the last couple of years working closer to home (which is in south-central British Columbia, Canada).
I have more time on my hands right now, and I'm looking forward to spending a lot more time with my 4x5. I doubt if my pictures will ever grace the halls of galleries, but I'd be satisfied if a few of them managed to survive to be seen by my great-great-grandchildren. So my immediate goal is to take good enough pictures that a) I like them and b) my descendants would feel guilty about tossing them.
APUG is my photography home base. To me APUG resembles a photo club holding constant and simultaneous meetings on different subjects. I can attend these meetings from almost anywhere in the world.

 

[Shawn Dougherty]

I'm a 28 year old photographer who makes his cash mounting, framing and selling other peoples photographs. I've worked as a mini-lab tech, camera salesman, product/portrait/wedding photographer. I was never happy making photographs for other people so I decided to quit. I did that a few years ago and have been working seriously on my own photography ever since. I make mostly LF contact prints though I dabble in night work with my 35mm for a change of pace. I enjoy books, music, comedy and spending time outdoors. I live in western Pennsylvania, love football and could happily eat Mexican food for the remainder of my life.

 

[zenrhino]

I'm 40, currently in the throes of my mid-life crisis (although mine manifests itself with vintage 1980's tech -- Timex/Sinclair 1000 or TI-55-III, anyone?) and single with hermit-like tendencies (I blame seasonal @sshole disorder and the long, dark Minnesota winters), but am happily spoken for.

I signed up for a photo class as something to fill time after my divorce and bought a Praktica m42 ("Natalie") for the class. Natalie is still my favorite camera, even though I have some Nikons and a Spotmatic and even a Bronica GS1 and Rolleicord in the closet.

My inner ego-fluffing snob really wants to be a fine-art shooter. I was accepted to SAIC this year on the strength of some contemporary portraits that I thought were just 3rd rate copies of what Alec Soth, Angela Strassheim and Shen Wei are doing. So I declined the invite and some scholarship money to concentrate on following my muse in pursuit of whimsy and irony and the flotsam of visual rhetoric. Elliott Erwitt and Martin Parr are my heroes as I stare at 40, just as Ogden Nash and Lawrence Ferlinghetti when I stared at 20 thinking that too was "old." That muse has led to my first pieces to be shown in a juried gallery show this March.

Lastly, an acknowledgment -- without all of you, APUG, I would be but a shadow of the shooter I am today. Thank you all so much.

 

[mmcclellan]

Wonderful idea, Nicole! And the responses so far certainly demonstrate what an interesting, eclectic group of “amateurs” (in the classical sense) and pros we are. Now to add a bit more to that diversity . . . .

My mother got me into photography before I could read, using an Argus C3 my dad gave her as a wedding present when he returned from World War II, and an old Weston light meter. By the time I was in high school, I was shooting for the local weekly paper and the school yearbook and had my first darkroom in my bedroom when I was 16. In college I studied journalism and political science, then got a Master’s in Photojournalism and International Relations, then did Ph.D. studies in International Communications. I was torn between two career choices – photojournalism and diplomacy. I was torn between being a photographer did diplomacy as a hobby or a diplomat who did photography as a hobby. I finally decided the second option was the more realistic and have been in the U.S. Foreign Service now for 22 years, traveling the world and doing photography on the side.

Throughout my travels – indeed for most of the past 35 years! – I have had a darkroom wherever I lived. I’ve built darkrooms in Yemen, Egypt, Russia, Germany, Kosovo, and Ireland, and will soon be building another one in Ethiopia. I shoot a lot of Leicas (only with shift lenses now) and a gorgeous 4x5 Zone VI with a half dozen lenses that I am totally in love with. Tried a Deardorff 8x10 and an Agfa 5x7, but they did not catch my fancies quite the way 4x5 did. That said, I hope to get another 5x7 and get back into contact printing again, hopefully doing POP printing.

I’m strictly film, adamantly black and white, but I do scan my negs and PhotoShop them. Am now experimenting with outputting large negs for contact work on silver paper, but that’s still in the formative stages. For the most part, it’s just the usual enlarging of negs using my Leitz enlarger for 35mm and an Omega for 4x5 (cold light, of course!).

I photograph mostly monasteries, churches, and other religious sites. The beauty of this “project” approach is that it takes me to some really obscure corners of the world where I have met some truly amazing hermits, monks, nuns, and other spiritual seekers. I have also visited phenomenal landscapes where these places are located, have done many portraits of the people inhabiting them, and have climbed over ruins that most people can only read about. I love the idea of pursuing a “project” in one’s work because it takes you in some direction and keeps you moving forward. Although I have now been doing this project for some 30 years, I feel like I have only just started it and am more interested in it now than ever before. It has probably given me more happiness and satisfaction in life than anything else, professional or personal.

APUG has been a godsend for folks like me. Living abroad as I do (currently in Iraq), and moving frequently, I have not been able to be part of a stable community of fellow photographers from whom I could learn and with whom I could share ideas and knowledge. APUG has given me that community virtually and I will always be grateful for the immense amount of knowledge that has accumulated here and all I have been able to learn from my colleagues.

Many thanks to all of you!!!

 

[Steve Smith]

I am a musician and photographer who has to work as an electronic engineer to pay the bills.
I play guitar in a couple of bands. One is a rockabilly/western swing band and the other plays jazz and blues. I also play banjo, ukulele and mandolin.
I build valve (tube) based audio equipment such as microphone pre-amplifiers for recording. I have just finished a valve mixing desk for a friend which, to date, is the most complex piece of valve equipment I have built, having 17 valves. I also work occasionally as a live sound engineer.
Photographically, I had an interest from an early age as my father was a wedding photographer. I have owned 35mm cameras (mainly Nikons) from when I was about 12 years old. Once I left school the interest dropped off a bit. A christmas present of a compact digital and then a Nikon D100 rekindled the interest which led to far too many film cameras being bought. I have 35mm up to 5x4" but my recent Mamiya RB67 purchase is now my main camera. The digital compact fell apart and the D100 now lives, unloved in a cupboard. I dabble a bit in oil painting but to describe my oil painting efforts as hopeless would be a bit too optimistic!

Steve.

 

[removed account4]

i could give the expanded version but i will
not bore you to death

i am a professional photographer with a background in architecture,
planning and preservation planning. i have worked professionally as a
photographer since the late 1980s.
i hate being pigeonholed and do a variety of things -
i document buildings/sites for the historic american building survey
( habs program ) and i have worked as an editorial photographer making
portraits for magazines and newspapers and website designers ....

before i started out on my own, worked with a portrait photographer as her
assistant. of all the people i worked for, she made the biggest impact on me.
she was trained in the 20s/30s at a school in NYC, and used to laugh and tell me
she would hang out with the surrealists ...
anyways she was 73 when i worked with her, and she had a wealth of information
she was willing to share with me.

eventually i will open a storefront portrait studio like she had, but for now i will have to have my studio in the back of my car ...

 

[jstraw]

Well, here's what it says on the bio page of my website:

Raised in Omaha and Chicago, I was first exposed to photography in 1968 at the age of eight. Residing next door was the late Declan Haun, former National Geographic photo editor, then shooting for Black Star, having left Life Magazine by then. I've been involved with photography since the age of ten. I've dabbled as a hobbiest, been an art student, worked as a professional and exhibited work publicly.

The acension of the World Wide Web in the mid-nineties led me away from photography and into other areas of employment. I continued to freelance and produce editorial work for publication until 2002, though due to the increasing dominance of digital technology, I last set foot in a darkroom in 1995 and last shot film in 2001. Currently I work in Information Technology at a small, midwestern university.

In 2006, upon becoming elligible for free tuition at my place of employment, I elected to take a beginning photography class in order to re-habituate myself to darkroom procedures. This rekindled interest in the darkroom equipment I had gathering dust in my basement. Several weeks into the semester, I began planning and then constructing the new darkroom. It was innaugurated before Thanksgiving.

Ironically, the Web, central to my drifting away from photography has been central to my returm. Growing my knowledge and skill has always been in part a reflection of the information to which I have access. Previously that was largly limited to the books and magazines I was fortunate enough to come across. Now, the Web provides not a rich library of material upon which to draw, it gives access to active communities of passionate photographers with which I'm able to share work and information.

In the intervening years photography has been tranformed by the rise of digital photography. Working in and around newspaper photo departments, I saw from beginning to completion, the entire transition from film cameras and darkroom printing to digital images moving directly to the printing plate. It was a fascinating vantage point. When I last worked in a darkroom, the tools and processes represented the standard manner for producing photographic images. As I re-enter the darkroom, these are now the province of artists and hobbyists. This too is a fascinating vantage point, as the shrunken and shrinking marketplace for equipment and materials creates a growing challenge for those of us practicing "traditional" photography.​

Additionally I would add that my interest in the arts seems to be deeply rooted in the culture of my family. My mother was an unfinished-fine arts major. My father is on the Nebraska arts commission and is a patron and collector (though ironically, not of photographs, at all) and I have a sibling that is a painter and another that's attending RISD.

I cook, read, write, ski, bicycle, motorcycle, garden and always have music playing. I kvetch and kvell as the need arises.

 

[noseoil]

Nicole, what a wonderful idea you have had!

I work as a construction estimator and have a high school education. Our manufacturing plant builds roof trusses (the wood things with triangles in them) for the residential housing market, with a smattering of light commercial work thrown in for "fun." After 8 hours a day at a desk, looking from the screen to a blueprint and back again, I have no desire at all to work with a digital anything. In a former lifetime, I was a cabinet maker (a relatively good one who can still count to 10), so working with my hands seems like a "normal" activity to me. Sitting at a desk now in my mid 50's is very stressful and an outlet is needed, it has become photography.

Photography is a serious hobby now. I do mostly B&W, and mostly landscapes with formats from 35mm through 8x10. My format of choice still seems to be the 4x5. I have no formal training in art or photography, so my work tends to reflect this background, self-taught through reading and doing. I'm still something of a gear-head at heart and enjoy machinery and industrial images, but would like to do more with portraits and figure studies, MF (C330 and 135mm) or 4x5 (180mm Fuji, soft focus).

My only child (our son) joins the Army in June, so I hope to have more time for my wife and I to travel, visit with friends and enjoy things. These last few years have been a long haul with limited resources (a one-income household for 5 years), but my wife will be going back to work as an R.N. soon and things will be changing again. I am very fortunate to have a good son, a loving wife and a hobby I enjoy. APUG has been a real eye-opener for me (film, darkroom and the sharing of knowledge). There are some very fine people here, both kind and generous. I hope my photography will improve and that I will continue to learn and be able to contribute from time to time. tim

 

[dianna]

Photography is not my profession, but it's a hobby that I'm in love with. I'm a systems engineer, somewhat burned out on technology, so I avoid technology in my life away from work. I love film and I love old cameras - I use a Deardorff view camera and a Graflex SLR. I'm fascinated by the craftsmanship and ingenuity that went into designing and building those cameras. I love to imagine the designers and draftsmen drawing out the plans on pen and paper. We seem to have so many pilots around here. I'm an instrument pilot and love to fly, but put flying on hold for a while when my family grew. My time is pretty much divided between work, my family, and the darkroom. Whenever time allows, I love going on road trips across the country, especially on old state highways.

 

[MurrayMinchin]

As a pre-teen I wanted to be an ornithologist. I started drawing and painting birds, and by the time I was 13 I wanted to be a wildlife artist. At about the same time I began taking my parents Canon 35mm on my hikes into the mountains, and was frustrated at how empty my photographs were compared to how amazed I was with the beauty of the scenes photographed. Wanting to bring back stronger images started the ball rolling. I began telling people I was going to be a nature photographer who sold through art galleries... :rolleyes:

After high school I took first year fine arts courses at two art colleges. I didn't take photography courses because I felt fine arts would give me a better base to work from, and it was there where I discovered the works of Adams, Weston, and the other large format greats. I ordered a Zone VI 4x5 camera outfit by mail and had to read the instructions on how to open the camera because I'd never seen a large format camera before. I've been using the same gear for over twenty years.

A couple years later, I took a one year photography course where the instructor, Jeremy Addingon, helped me greaty. He had taken photography at Ryerson, but his degree in psychology had a bigger impact on how I photograph and how I look at other peoples work. He also gave me a 'B' at the end of the course even though I didn't do any of the assignments after the first month. I just used B&W in my 4x5, photographed every day, stayed in the darkroom till the wee hours all the time, and left school with my first exhibition printed. I was on 'self directed studies' before I ever heard the term.

These days I'm still doing, still dreaming, and still learning. I'm also a husband and dad to two of the most amazing ladies on the planet

Murray