Forays in Photography
What I love about photography the most is that you are looking through another person’s “eyes”.
You’re seeing what they wanted to capture, what spoke to them.
Master of shots. BW Film. Duluth, MN 2000. © 2022ClaraConnell
Disclosure: I have not been compensated or sponsored in any way for any of the mentions in this post. I just f*ing love them.
That love has become more poignant since my Dad passed. He was the first one to encourage me in photography.
He had an old film Vivitar XV-2 and I thought it was the coolest camera in the world. A classic black body, the sound that the film advance lever would make after a picture...I imagined that every shot would be spectacular.
For those of you old enough for the film development age, the happy anticipation of opening that pack of photos was like a mini-holiday or birthday! You never knew how your carefully crafted shot was going to turn out until you were done with the whole film.
Brings a whole new dimension to the phrase “delayed gratification”.
University of Minnesota-Duluth. BW Film. Duluth, MN 2000.
© 2022ClaraConnell
In college, I took a summer photography class in Black and White film. It was amazing!
Not only did I get to hone my “eye”, but I learned how to develop and process my own film. There was ample opportunity to be creative with the developing process and Holiday gifts that year were pretty creative.
I highly recommend taking at least one photography class in person. There are so many things to learn and having live interaction can really help expand your skillset.
Having said that (and considering we are in a pandemic), online courses have value as well. I have enjoyed courses from Udemy…I just wait for them to go on sale because I am thrifty.
The solid benefit of an online course is you can repeat lessons if you missed it the first time. For those with limited attention spans (me), that comes in handy.
My Camera Journey: My B&W class was courtesy of my Dad’s old Vivitar XV-2. It’s a classic and I loved it.
After the class, I transitioned to my Canon EOS 750 and stayed with that until phones started taking pictures. Early 2000s? I can’t remember.
I was not/am not terribly tech savvy, so new things take a bit of time for me to assimilate.
I decided to invest in my Nikon D3200 DSLR after using the Nikon Coolpix. The convenience of a point and shoot is just below the usability of a good phone camera, but it wasn’t getting the shots that I was striving for.
Cue a hefty DSLR. It’s a bit on the heavier side, and even with an amazing camera strap, it can be a chore to haul around all day. However, the quality of the pictures you get is worth a sore neck IMO.
Cherry blossoms, Washington D.C., 2017.
© 2022ClaraConnell
You can see what I mean right? The right lens and camera can make the difference between a good shot and a GREAT shot.
I would love to hear how you got started or want to get started in photography!
What cameras have you worked with and what did you enjoy about them?
Cheers.
Clara