In the beginning there was film.

[Besperus]

I started with a box camera. No shutter speeds, no f stops one lens, waiting for ever to get my prints! Ah, prints! If there were any.
Black and white, shades of grey! Heads cut off!
Or, nice shot of my feet.
Progress.Mamiya C33. Close-ups, not so good but experience and my dog as a model how could I lose? College, photo classes along with all the biology, meteorology, anthropology and geology classes on top of all the boring classes.
Best shot, the dragon in the snow...farm equipment.
Fall in love! She has two kids! Am I nuts? Yup.
Go to work for fotomat in their lab. Metol poisoning, it’s lke poison ivy. Time “off” shooting weddings, and portraits. Mistakes earned learned.
Buy and existing studio. No business sense or experience. Dummy. Great photographer lousiest business man. Economy goes to hell.
Business folds, move to the west coast from the Midwest.
645 is out of date, hard to focus, Canon F1, format too small for professional use except “news” work. No papers in Oregon willing to hire, freelance will not feed me or a family.
Go to work for The State. Then, transit bus driver, and finally national telephone company. Digital camera in hand, retired.
Well, sort of, I’m at it again! My own terms,
with 40 years experience and a memorable conversation with Ansel Adams behind me.

 

[Derrel]

Your first TPF post has earned you your first "Like" here! Welcome to TPF, Besperus!

 

[Dave442]

Welcome, great to hear that you can do photography on your own terms these days.

 

[Designer]

That's an amazing story! I doubt that I could summarize my life in one paragraph.

Got photos?

 

[terri]

Welcome to TPF! I enjoyed reading your photography history.

I moved your thread over to the Intro & Welcome forum, where hopefully it will get lots of well-deserved views and replies.

We'd love to see some of your work, too - past or present, we ain't particular. Check out our Photo Galleries and share your photos by whatever category seems to fit.

Keep posting and have fun !

 

[Dean_Gretsch]

Best introduction ever! Can't wait to see some of your work ( keep the feet and headless subjects...I have my own ) and hope you will continue sharing with us.

 

[Tony744]

Welcome to the forum Can't wait to see some of your photos.

 

[Gary A.]

Welcome to the forum. I also met Adams in the autumn of his years. He was pleasant then ... I heard he was on the insufferable side of things in his youth.