In the Origins thread I mentioned that I started seriously in getting into photography with 8mm movies. There was an earlier interest in photography when I was 16 way back in 1957. I saw a movie where hero used a camera with a flash and got a great photo in his darkroom later. I thought that was fascinating and wanted a camera. I got a Kodak Duoflex II TLR for a gift (it used 620 film, I believe) and shot some photos at the Rose Festival in Portland. I didn't know anything about fast shutter speeds to freeze action or panning while tripping the shutter to get a clear photo. My pictures of the King of the Cowboys, Roy Rogers, came out blurry. I gave up photography for five years until a friend of mine began shooting pictures using a Yashicamat and a Pentax H3. That got me interested again.
Jim A. > From: Kevin Waterson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Organization: Oceania > Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Date: Mon, 9 Sep 2002 07:31:08 +1000 > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: How did you start photography > Resent-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Resent-Date: Sun, 8 Sep 2002 17:32:22 -0400 > > 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 > >
