Photographing Since 1972

wsboyette · Jul 24, 2014

Hi Everyone ! I am Wade Sims, and I have been seriously into photography since 1972 or so. I started at about the age of 10, shooting on an old Argus rangefinder 35mm and a Ricohflex 6x6 TLR MF I purchased for $5.00 at a flea market - most economical medium format ! I also did B&W processing and printing in my bathroom.... Then in about 1988, I acquired a Nikon N2000 and really leaned into the art. By 1995 I had gone semi-professional, doing mostly weddings and a few portrait jobs. During this time I acquired some nice flash and ancillary equipment and a Kiev 88 6x6 MF SLR. I did this for a few years with great success, then became disenchanted with weeding work in particular - could no longer tolerate guests getting in my way and interfering with my work with their little point-and-shoot junk cameras. I still do the occasional portrait, however. Just last month I finally acquired A Canon Rebel T3 DSLR, and was surprised at how similar it works to a film camera - thus making my transition to digital effortless. I'm now free at last from the woes of film and finding good lab work !

From 1977:

To 1997:

smalltowngirl13 · Jul 25, 2014

Welcome to the forum Wade...

sm4him · Jul 25, 2014

Welcome to TPF! We're about the same age, evidently, although I started a bit younger, around the age of 8 or 9 with the Brownie camera that had belonged to my grandfather, and then a Kodak instamatic.
However, by the late 80s, when you were making a business of it, I was backing off from it--careers, then kids took precedence over photography for me for many years. Got back into it a few years back and loving every minute of it. Okay, ALMOST every minute of it!
Like you, I love the world of digital and don't "really" miss film. Well, honestly, I *do* miss film a little, and want to play around with a few of my film cameras once in a while, but I *don't* miss doing my own developing, and since I don't really like to trust anyone else to do it, I just end up not shooting film even for fun.

Now--we've seen the 1977 example, and the 1997 example.
How about the 2007 one and the 2014 one?