My first camera, a "Baby Emila" was purchased for 3/6d in 1959
from the proceeds of selling "dead" wool" collected on the farm to itinerant wool buyers.
Since then I have held a low key, but continuing interest in
photography. My first role of film, a Kodak 126 Verichromepan B&W film,
cost more than the camera, and yielded 12 prints. I still have many of
them, complete with flare from light leaking into the camera.
A long series of cameras followed.
In 1963 a Kodak Instamatic 100, complete with pop up
flash, with AG-1 flash bulbs which was a real attraction and a novelty,
although each flash bulb pack cost nearly as much as a film. A
great little camera with a good lens, but limited settings.
If I remember correctly the difference was 1/90th sec
shutter speed or 1/45th shutter speed with the built in flash unit
"popped" up, and used 25 ASA or 64 ASA high speed film. 100 ASA film was
still a distant dream.
Light was always a problem, and Kodachrome colour slides
were the order of the day, even though each film with developing cost
once again the initial cost of the camera and was a two week wait for
development.
In 1967 a used Yashica Lynx 5000 35mm rangefinder camera
was the next purchase. A great leap forward in quality an creative
capability with f2.8 -22 lens and shutter speed up to 1/1000th second,
complete with a built in CDS cell light meter, external shoe mounted
flash, but still with those horrendously expensive flash bulbs. Details
of this camera can be found
here
In 1970 my first SLR heralded a new level of interest.
After a wonderful trade in on the trusty Yashica, I became for
$105 became the proud owner of a Hanimax Practica Super TTL SLR, that
boasted an amazing F1.8 Meyer Oriston lens, AND a built in light meter
with needle visible in the viewfinder.
Gone also were the days of guesswork when taking photos
at close range and range finder focus settings. I still have this camera
along with a fixed 200 Tameron zoom lens purchased secondhand for $45A.
They all still work, but unlike modern cameras require a lot of hard
work and judgment to produce results that a modern digital camera
produces as a matter of course.
This was followed by a Minolta SRT-303b 35mm SLR camera
(approx $330A - very large sum in 1977), which I also still have and
until 2006 occasionally used. Recently I have won several photo
competitions with prints from this camera that I have scanned, from the
original negatives, colour corrected, cropped and reprinted. Some of
these images can be seen in the photo galleries on this site.
My first digital camera was a Sony Mavica Digital camera
purchased for $1200A. It recorded an amazing 640 x 480 images to
1.44mb floppy disks. The images, although better in composition because
of the freedom to experiment and instantly review are sadly not of
sufficient quality to display, but many happy "snaps" of our first
grandchild were taken and are archived with care.
In 2004 I purchased a Fujifilm S602 Digital camera
with a 3.2 native megapixel resolution and starting clicking away in
earnest. Some of the results of that photography will be included in the
galleries on this site.
When reasonable quality Digital Cameras became available
I commenced capturing landscape images of Lake Needonga and the adjoining
Castle Hill Springs farm with view
to exhibiting them in the local Bindoon agricultural show. In keeping with the
local atmosphere of the show I only entered images taken at the lake or from the
farm, none with any digital enhancement. To my surprise I won several prizes in
my first exhibition which stimulated my interest even further. The following
year I was particularly rewarded with winning both 1st and 2nd prizes in every
class I entered photographs.
An inspirational light and audio evening
by prize winning WA Landscape photographer "Nick Melodonis"
served to further my interest
in landscape photography as a creative pursuit. Being retired I like to
travel and continue to explore our wonderful country.
Capturing good images forces one's mind to focus on the
"here and now" and makes travel so much more rewarding.
Current Activity
I currently use a Canon 50D Digital camera when
capturing images and continue to use a smaller Fujifilm 6 megapixel
compact digital camera when exploring an area for possibilities and for
those quick opportunistic shots when special lighting or cloud
conditions unexpectedly occur.
I am regularly are looking for unique image opportunities,
and I hope you enjoy the results to date.
