My sad tale began when I was barely a toddler. Dad
used to take me down to the darkroom so I could "help"
him develop film and print pictures. Right away, he
was giving me objects (screws, nails, washers) to
place on some old expired paper to expose and develop.
I am just about to repeat this with my own girls as
soon as I get back in my darkroom this winter.
Anyway, soon learned enough photography from him that
my childhood was spent learning the technical side of
the trade. In 7th and 8th grade I bought a couple
Yashica GLN Rangefinders (with excessory lenses) with
my paperroute money and plied my trade as the yearbook
photographer. Always longing for an SLR I memorized
Keppler's articles and always wanted a Nikon (like my
oldest brother and my father), but the Canon A1 was
calling and Olympus had their nifty OM-1 and OM-2
which were pretty nifty.
Graduated from highshool and spent the next year and a
half travelling all over North America with a singing
group, shooting pictures all the way.
Returned to Michigan, went to Community College,
worked at McDonalds, and one fateful day ventured into
Radium Photo to buy a Canon A1 when lo-and-behold
there sat a brand spanken new OM-2S. I picked up the
A1, and then the 2S, looked through the viewfinders
and bought the OM-2S on the spot. (double nintendo
intended). If memory serves me, I bought the 100/2.8
that day too, and the 35/2.8 the next payday. Within
a few months I started working there part-time, and
several years later I still had yet to receive a
paycheck. Bought a factory reconditioned sales-rep
demonstrator OM-1md (beautiful camera--absolutely
flawless), and later on an OM-2md from a former
teacher.
I bought an entire shipment of Fuji 50 (Fuji was
running a special for the dealers) at something like
$1.50 a roll and learned, learned, and learned.
Burned up a lot of batteries in those days.
Eventually, the freezer was empty and I had to start
buying film again...what a sad day... Also, I've been
through three different medium-format kits.
Anyway, I've sold a lot of the equipment off, had
several equipment failures and let the kit shrink to a
comfortable, tote-able size and haven't bought
anything OM since I've been married.
(early-marriage-syndrome and early-parenthood=syndrome
EMS/EPS). My kit now consists of an OM-1md, OM-2SP,
IS-3, XA, 24/2.8 (well used/abused), 35/shift, 35-70,
100/2.8, 200/2.8 (Sillygar), assortment of flash
equipment, flash meter and Mamiya Super-23
medium-format equipment.
If I stick around with 35mm (big question mark) for
the photo-business it will be with Olympus. I can't
bring myself to buying any of the wonderbricks in 35mm
format with digital coming on strong. I'd like to
migrate over to medium-format for the professional
work and get a digital camera like the E-10.
I've never bought a single thing through E-bay!
Ken N.
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Shopping - Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products.
http://shopping.yahoo.com/
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|