About photography

Well I did imply on the “About This Blog” page that I was/am a Photographer. I photograph.

The first photographs I took were using a Kodak 110 instamatic, one with a Canadian Flag sticker on it, that my grandmother got me. I do not remember what the pictures looked like, as I was so young … don’t have any of them.

Many many years later in my teens I purchased by very own camera … a Canon T-70 w/ 50mm, wide and telephoto zoom, from, ah, hmm, a chain store that does not exist anymore at Yorkdale mall.

I still remember the first roll of film that I ran through it … it was a still life objects and a colour chart, shot at various apertures and shutter speeds. I read something about how they affect the image, so I wanted to see what it was about.

One of the best images that I have taken on film was taken with that camera and a cheap wide angle zoom … sadly I have lost the negative. I shot many things during my time in High School … mostly friends. After that I started working a Japan Camera.

With my time working in a camera store I got the opportunity to buy some used equipment directly from Canon … so I got a New F-1 w/ 50mm f/1.4, 28mm f/2.8 and a 135mm f/2.8. I spent much time wandering around my home for any subjects that caught my eye.

I got interested in learning how to develop and print … so I signed up for a certificate at Humber College. About that time I was interested in different cameras and formats … so I purchased a medium format camera … the Mamiya C330.

So, that is a picture of my father, on one of the environmental portrait assignments shot on the Mamiya and a single Metz flash (with umbrella).

I continued to work at Japan Camera … and eventually met my wife who was studying Media Arts, with a Minolta X-700.

One day we went to a camera sale put on by the Lions Club … she picked up a Yashica A twins lens reflex.

Ok, so off we went on our photography adventure … which include infrared film. We even had our own darkroom.

I swapped out the slow and bulky Mamiya for a Bronica SQ-A.

Other than scenes in the city of Toronto, we also got into wildlife photography birds and other things. I won’t show many pictures from the early days, as you would really have to squint to see the birds. Eventually we upgraded equipment that was more suitable.

We currently are in the digital world, switch to Sony to keep the Minolta A-mount lenses we have collected … but we still have many film cameras … almost complete enlarger, expired chemicals , frozen film and a Minolta Dimage scanner.

I got the classic Minolta Maxxum 9000 to shot film and use my full frame lenses. Serena (my wife) has her Minolta X-700 and 7000i. We both have a Minolta Autocord for medium format. She is more of a camera collector, while I am a recycler, so I have gone had many cameras that I have sent back into the world for others to use.