Hi from Ohio

[Autistic Savant]

Hi fellow photographers, I am from southern Ohio and am getting ready to engage in a serious photojournalism type project. I have been interested in photography since I was in high school (back in the early 1980s). I am a gifted intervention specialist by profession, but enjoy music, model trains, roller coasters, and photography. The cameras that I have that I want to use on my project include:

Rolleiflex Automat K4A with 75mm Zeiss lens
Minolta X700
Nikon N80

I have been undergoing a debate with myself as to what format I should use. For convenience sake, digital is very easy to use---plug camera into computer and work photos with Adobe Photoshop. But, the film camera has always been my preference. So, my desire is to use the film cameras on this project. I do have a Nikon D50 digital SLR and a Sony digital (more of a point and shoot).

I also have a lot of old cameras in my collection including a couple Argus bricks, an Argus medium format, a very old Ansco, a 1910s era Kodak with bellows, a Yashica mat medium format, etc. And there are a lot of more modern cameras and digital cameras around the house.

Thank you for reading.

 

[supraman215]

Welcome! I don't think you told us the subject of your project.

What do you think of those 2 intervention shows Intervention and Addicted. Me and my wife LOVE those shows.

 

[Autistic Savant]

Thanks Supraman215 for the welcome. I have been toying with a title for the project since I first thought about doing it back in the spring of 2004. I hurt my back and underwent surgery which led to a pulmonary embolism---so I backburnered the photo project until getting renewed interest in it now.

A generic title for it would be "Journey Through the Clouds." I want to photograph the more unusual moments in life. Instead of the high school graduation photo representing the transformation of entering adulthood, I would choose something like getting a first tattoo. And rather than a newly wed couple at their wedding reception, I would find a newlywed couple that was doing something like, for example, purchasing a new travel trailer to go on a camping trip. Basically, I am looking for things that are common, but yet are uncommon to photojournaling type portraits.

I began this project in June of 2004. I photographed a young man getting an addition to an arm tattoo. I used the Nikon N80 with and without flash. I hesitated to use flash for fear of distraction to the artist. I used flash for the finished tattoo and during small breaks in the tattoo process. The artist and the client were most anxious to get the photos---and they were pleased with the results. Now, I am thinking, the young man used here is now well into his 20s. But that is fine---it represented a moment in his life where he was declaring his independence and transformation into adulthood by showing his individuality.

So that is what this project is about. Showing small, but important, segments of various people's lives from all ages. For a senior citizen, though morbid, I thought it would be interesting to show an older person laying flowers at the grave of a friend of the same age. I know that sounds morbid, but it is a typical segment of life---but not one often seen in photo.