On My Photography

It has taken over thirty-five years to feel confident enough to show others my work. Now that I have broken the ice with this blog let me tell you more about my approach to photography and the obligatory equipment list.

I've been doing serious photography since I was about 15. Armed with a Lord 4D rangefinder I started out exploring B&W photography and developing. In those days my darkroom was in the basement. I covered all the windows with rubber lined blackout material and prayed for the best. Reading many photography books I began to develop and print my own B&W images. There are very few moments in life that are more special than seeing the first print you ever made come to life in the tray of developer. (Kodak Dektol if I remember correctly.) Into the stop bath tray (Kodak Indicator Stop Bath) and on the the fixer. I worshiped the Great Yellow God, Kodak, for all of my film life. Rinse and more rinse until the print reached the final step of rolling on a ferrotype plate to dry and create the glossy finish. If you have done this you certainly remember the dreaded paper "curl". I should point out that all of my equipment was from my aunt's darkroom who gave it all to me when she began to shoot nothing but color. My enlarger at the time was a Federal 450 (4x5 Diffusion type). For you digital novices, that is an enlarger that can handle up to a 4x5 negative. The difficult part of working with the Federal 450 was it's use of glass plates to sandwich the negative in the carrier. Glass plates make visible every scratch and defect in the emulsion. Nose grease to the rescue. (I'll let you think about what that is.) It might have been the smell of the photo chemicals that kept me behind the camera or the challenge of photographing and processing my own film that kept me in photography. In those days Plus-X (ASA 125) or Tri-X (ASA400) were the staple of 35mm B&W photographers.

With more experience came the need for more camera. Enter my Rollei 35SL. Certainly one of a kind, but I have very few good things to say about the body. The Carl Zeiss 50mm f1.8 lens was very sharp. Armed with a set of close-up lenses as my only accessory I explored the world around me. The Rollei SL35 made it through high school and then some. When I began to study Photographic Communications at Ramapo College of NJ the need for more camera evolved.

The Nikon Years - I still rmember the day in 1980 that I bought my Nikon F2-DP1 from Olden Camera in NYC. This was a fine photographic instrument that deserved to be treated like royalty. For the next 27 years almost all my images were created with the F2. Over time I added Tamron 28, 35, 105, 135 and 300mm lens and a Nikkor 55mm Micro. For more history on Tamron lenses check out Adaptall-2.com. Under the ever critical eye of my professor at Ramapo, Ed Scully, I improved all the skills I had self taught, especially in the B&W darkroom. A Gossen Luna Pro light meter and a gray card for initial exposure than measurements taken with a densitometer in the dark room and my images took leaps forward.

Leap many years ahead to the one of the worst days of my life when our house got burglarized. Not only were many valuables taken, but my Nikon F2 and all my equipment was gone.

Once the insurance claim was settled, I had to decide on what to buy to replace my dear old Nikon F2. I had almost 30 years of images with that camera. Should I stay with film or go digital. Film or digital. It took almost 4 months to decide.

The results of my decision have been depicted here with recent images. The Nikon D200 is a very welcome replacement for my beloved F2. (You have to have owned an F2 to understand the emotion of losing one.) For those interested I purchased the camera at L.A. Cameras in Chambersburg, PA.

I don't travel anywhere with out the D200. It has all the function of my F2 plus the benefits of digital. Of course it is NOT as heavy as an F2, but you have to compromise somewhere. (Another one of those you have to have owned an F2 to understand.)

So for the past 2 years I have been relearning how to develop an image (post processing). Sometimes the results are the same as when I was 15 and developing prints in the basement. Oh, by the way, I did eventually build a darkroom in the basement.

The tools now are Nikon Capture NX2, Nikon ViewNX and Nikon Transfer. I have GIMP installed in case I need function it offers that Capture NX2 doesn't. Additionally, I purchased a copy of Microsoft Expressions Media 2 for DAM. If I can offer one initial piece of advice to a new digital photographer, learn all about DAM (Digital Asset Management) before you have thousands of images to catalog. I've added to the mix a Huey Pro for monitor calibration. I wonder if anyone has bottled the scent of B&W photo chemicals.

In the future, I'll write about my post processing philosophy.

Andy