Neat story, I enjoyed reading it. Quite extraordinary! My grandma collects stuff to send to East Europa and one day she encountered a Konica POP. The thing was damaged but my dad fixed it and I started taking photos of friends and holidays. Fifty rolls later I borrowed my parent's Praktica STL 3 and after a few months I decided to buy a used cam. I had my eye on Pentax, for some reason, and I got a MZ5 with SMC 28-70 f4 AL for $ 160,- and have enjoyed it a lot so far.
Rod. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kevin Waterson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, September 08, 2002 23:31 Subject: How did you start photography > The recent Origins thread regarding some of our first > cameras got me thinking about my old k1000 and others > I used when first starting. It also got me thinking > how I entered photography and I thought I might share > it with others in the hope others may have some fun > sharing their first photographic experiences. > > For me, well.. A good friend and I were about 19-20 years > old and unemployed in Sydney, so we decided to head off > on a round Australia trip, picking up work as we went. > This was 1979. > > We found ourselves in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. > Like most towns in WA it is in the desert and the > primary industry is mining. Before too long we had > work in some mines, and with this experience were > able to travel to other locations and were readily > accepted as experienced miners. At that time we were > taking home some AUD$800.00 per week, big dollars in > that time. I decided to purchase a camera to record > our travels and unique work environment and purchased > my first PENTAX. > > I was at the time workin at the Windarra Nickel Project, > (Windarra is approximately 400km from anywhere) > an underground mine of 1200 metres, and took the camera > down the hole and took some photo's of my collegues > and the mining operation. Many of the other miners > thought it would be good also to have their photo taken > whilst underground to send back to their loved ones. > Many miners worked in these remote locations for 6-12 > months, sending their pay packets home, before returning > home themselves. > > I soon found I needed to charge for this service as > the cost of film/processing was getting high. As we > travelled to other mines in the desert I was able to > eke out a good start in photography, especially low > light situations. > > How did you get started? > > Kind regards > Kevin > -- > Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments. > See http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html > Kevin Waterson > Byron Bay, Australia >
