I think everybody already knows all about me, but here goes anyway...
I'm 231 dog years old and been playing with cameras so long that my Dad has
one camera with gumming marks from when I used it as a chew toy. One of my
earliest memories is "helping" Dad place screws, bolts and nails on the
printing paper and exposing it with the enlarger. I've always had a love
for photography, but it took years to discover "art" and "creativity."
Ansel Adams' "Monolith, The Face of Half Dome" picture was the photograph
that turned the corner for him. That was his first photograph that he
truely visualized the outcome. Mine, actually is posted in the Gallary
and is the time-exposure of the waterfall.
In high-school I purchased a couple Yashica GSN rangefinder cameras (I
still have one and the wide angle/telephoto screw-on lenses). I have only
one picture from that era that I'm proud of and it actually is my most
successful photograph to date.
One day I drifted into the local drug dealer, ahem, camera store, and there
was this most incredible camera sitting there. This store carried all the
mainline SLR brands and there was a case for Nikon, another for Minolta,
another for Canon and stuck between the Nikon and Canon cases was a
gorgeous black camera and a whole bunch of lenses. This camera was smaller
than the others, but not chinsingly small like the Pentax. Asked to look
through this fancy black camera and I listened to the sweet sound of the
shutter. Pure brilliance! This camera was the smoothest, most modern, yet
easiest to use camera in the store. Before buying the camera, I just had
to try out the Canon A-1, but one look through the viewfinder totally
convinced me that Olympus was the choice for me. I left the store that day
with an OM-2S and the 100/2.8 lens. Every two weeks (payday) I returned to
the store to pick up another lens, flash, winder and other items.
I later part-timed in the store to help support my "habit" and to get film
and processing at cost. I was a slow learner, though, and it took me about
20,000 pictures to REALLY learn about photography. I, by no means, have
"arrived", but I can hold my own. Maybe in another 231 dog years I will be
giving workshops and writing articles for some geriatric gen-x publication:
"From Mountain Dew to Medimusal--Making the Transition," or "Carbon Fiber
to Dietary Fiber--Are you Doing the Do?" or "Skate Boards and Nursing
Homes--Riding the Handrail." Maybe I'll come out with a line of orthodics:
"Xtreme Supports".
I love studying artwork, photos and paintings from the masters. I have an
Ansel Adams "Yosemite and the Range of Light" book next to me that I look
at regularily. I've devoured the John Shaw books and on a few occasions
been known to subsribe to the Galan Rowell "School of Thought." Other than
that, I find most photography books to be real snoozers and letdowns. "My
photographic style is somewhere between Art Wolfe and "Kodak Photo-Moment".
<g>
My current kit includes: IS-3, OM-1md, OM-2S, 24/2.8, 35/shift, 35-70/2.8,
100/2.8 and a 200/2.8. Also, occupying my lone camera bag is Vert and Toky
and a Vivitar flash. I have a Mamiya Super-23 (My third Mamiya system)
with 6x7 back and some studio lighting gear.
Future plans probably include getting a NEW Mamiya or Contax 645 autofocus
system and possibly a Nikon F5 system. I'm toying with the idea that I
don't need the Nikon if I get a good medium format autofocus camera so I
would get an OM-4Ti, 50/2, 90/2 and 350/2.8 along with the 1.4
teleconverter and a macro lighting system. Maybe an extreme wideangle
might find its way into the bag too. Might trade the OM-1md for an OM-3Ti.
Of course, I'm needing serious paychecks for all this.
next
Ken
Kenneth E. Norton
Image66 Photography, Broadcast Consulting and Audio Engineering
image66@xxxxxxx
(515) 791-2306
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