My Photography History
Hello, I am Harold and I love taking pictures and shooting video. I have been documenting my life with pictures and movies since the age of 10, with the added benefit that pictures of my friends are the ones that I took and not from my parents. That provides a different perspective and a lot more pictures other than birthdays and holidays. Of course I had to buy the film and flash bulbs from my allowance and that limited what I could take. I have worked in IT for over 30 years and bought my first home PC in 1977 (Apple II). I was a mainframe COBOL programmer and analyst for 18 years, owned a hobby shop for 12 years, did some editing on 2 inch tape in the early 90's, and purchased Sony Vegas 4 in November of 2003 (been upgrading ever since). Who would have know then that my love for photography and computers would someday merge and become all digital. Over the years friends have asked me to help them with their video projects so in addition to wedding DVDs and Super 8 film conversions, I have edited/authored 8 lecture DVDs for a magician friend that are available globally.
Like so many others, I started my photography experience with film cameras using my dad's 620 camera. The first camera I bought was the 1964 World's Fair camera from Kodak that shot 127 film. It cost about $8. I think I bought it with my allowance money, but it might have been a birthday gift from my parents because I wanted a camera for as long as I can remember.
In 1970 I purchased of a Super 8mm movie camera, and a few years after that a Super 8 Sound camera. I made 2 home adventure films on Super 8 before graduating to VHS video tape where I had an adventure movie in production from 1987 until 2004.
In 1977 I purchased a GAF 35mm camera (made by Chinon) which was almost all manual, and believe it or not I got some of my best pictures from that camera.
In 1980 I bought a Canon AE-1 and in the mid 90's I bought another Canon 35mm which was just an EOS Rebel G.
In 1999 I decided to try out digital and bought a Sony Mavica FD 1.2 megapixel Camera for $1,000. It recorded images to a diskette. At the time it was pretty cool, but most of the pictures weren't very good.
In 2003 I bought a Kodak APS camera at auction which was a big disappointment in terms of quality. KodaK screwed up on this camera by not having a bigger film size.
Late 2008 I bought a Nikon D90 and a 70-300mm lens to prepare for my 5th African Safari
In 2013 I bought a SONY NEX-6 to have as my second camera to replace the cheaper point-n-shoots which I had always tolerated.
I have owned a Konica and a couple of other Sony digital cameras as well. So I have been shooting both digital and 35mm for years. As I mentioned I never cared for the Kodak APS camera much, but I did have it with me when I took a picture of my wife and brother-in-law in South African with then President Thabo Mbeki.
President Thabo Mbeki taken with a Kodak APS camera
I shot the picture of the campfire on 35mm slide film and converted it to digital
A 1968 picture from my World's Fair camera shot in B&W with a bit of color added
My current camera of choice is the Nikon D7100 which replaced my D90 in July 2015. I had a Kodak Z1485 IS for a quick take it with you camera, but I replaced that with a Sony DSC-H70 in 2011. I used the Kodak on my 2009 African safari and it really came in handy. Always be prepared! In bright daylight the Kodak did a pretty good job and in low light I have been able to fix them up to pretty good condition. Cheap point-n-shoots won't replace a good HD camcorder, but in a pinch they can deliver. My second most used camera though is my iPhone 6+ because I always have it on me and I can take a quick picture and capture the moment.
Waikiki Beach taken with a Sony Mavica 1.2 megapixel camera purchased in 1999 for $1,200
I have over 8,000 pictures on my photo site and I only have a hundred or so photos from the days when I was a kid. There isn't enough time in the day! Get out enjoy the great outdoors and take a few pictures to capture the memories.
Harold