Take a moment and introduce yourself

[Nancy B]

Where to start. Well, I started out taking photos at a very early age, maybe around 10 or so. I would use my mom's 110 camera to take goofy pictures of my best friend in my backyard. Then, when I was in my early 20s, I was given a Minolta (don't remember the model), and really got the photography bug. In 1996 I was perusing my local community college's course calendar for a class to take (George Brown College in Toronto), saw the introductory photography course, enrolled and that was the beginning of my obsession. My first teacher was very good at instilling the basics of photography, like composition, exposure, etc., then with each subsequent class and teacher I would learn more and more, like developing negs, printing photos, shooting with LF cameras, even shooting live models. At about this time, I used a bonus from work to buy my first SLR bodies, a Nikon FM2 and an EM, and a 35-135 lens. These cameras were and still are my favourites and have travelled to many places, stuffed in a backpack and have survived brilliantly. After I took all the classes I could there, I started taking classes at a proper polytechnical university (Ryerson University), with much better facilities and teachers. I would love to take more courses, but life keeps getting in the way. I am very lucky that the university I work for has a camera club with darkroom facilities, that I can use any time I want, for a very small yearly fee. I go there as often as I can to develop my b&w negs, and would like to start printing again.

I have a rather large collection of old and new cameras. I believe I started with a Brownie Hawkeye found at a flea market, then I graduated to antique stores and antique fairs, then people would start giving me old cameras, so now I have a collection of about 70 cameras! I wish I had more time to use more of these cameras, but they sure are nice to look at displayed on a bookshelf, and visitors to my home really get a kick out of them! I still like using manual, analog cameras and film, and I haven't been bitten by the digital bug, except to use my husband's Canon Sure Shot from time to time.

I have been fortunate enough to have travelled a fair bit, Paris twice; Barcelona; NYC; Victoria, BC a few times; Winnipeg; Lake Louise/Calgary; Montreal. I would like to travel more, and see more of Canada, the U.S. and Europe.

On a personal note, I'm 52, I've been married for 27 years to a man I've known since grade 6, we have two children, a daughter who is 23 and a son who is 20. I am a native Torontonian and still live in the neighbourhood I grew up in.

Like many people here, I followed Craig Nelson to Nelsonfoto Forums in 2004, after becoming disenchanted with Photo.net. When we lost our hairless leader, I wasn't sure what to do, until I found this place. I'm so glad it's here!

[Tom Hildreth]

Hi there,
I too, followed Craig over from photo.net.
My interest in photography started early. I can't remember not being interested, and in the photo of me below I'm clutching the box a camera came in. Looks like Holyoke, Massachusetts, 1947.

My aunt Edith let me use her camera to take my first picture. It was a photo of a pipe emptying into a brook at Mt. Tom Reservation in Holyoke, MA. When I was about ten I got my first camera, an ANSCO Ready-Flash that shot 620 film. I probably put a half-dozen rolls through it and never shot anything but very blurry pictures. I think it had the famous "Always Blurry" shutter that operated at a full 1/25 sec. Here I am below showing off this early light control device.

My brother and I were interested in aviation, and he felt a variable speed shutter would stop the action and give us better photos, so we chipped in and bought an AGFA Billy Record I in 1958. It worked great, and to this day some of my most treasured aviation shots were taken with that camera on B&W film. After a few years that camera developed light leaks, and I bought my first 35mm camera, a Sears Tower viewfinder type. I describe it this way because you could change the focus with the front ring on the lens, but there was no light spot in the viewfinder to help you do the job. It cost $18.95 new in 1962.

My next camera was a Petri 7s, purchased in 1966. It could take sharp pictures, but had many mechanical problems. In 1967 I purchased a Mimiya C33 6X6 twin lens, with 105m and 180mm lenses. In 1968 I bought a Minolta SRT-101 in an Air Force BX, and now have about a half dozen Minolta SLRs, having worn out several I no longer have. I have many lenses for them, and I usually shoot with Minolta Rokkor Glass. Here's a shot of me and my evil twin using one of these cameras about ten years ago.


I have used DSLRs when working for my employer, though I was not hired as a photographer. They wanted a bunch of images on the corporate network, and the baseline Canon paid for itself during the first night of a three night shoot. Still shooting film, I don't use digital in my personal life. I don't want to spend the money to get an equivalent system to that which I have with film SLRs, and not being a professional photographer, I am never in that much of a hurry to see my images. I have published thousands of photos, mostly in Aviation, Rail, and Automotive magazines, but many others have wound up in newspapers and other publications, commercial or otherwise. I have made terribly little money shooting transportation subjects, and it is a pain in the butt to have someone approach me (email usually) asking me if I have any more Ford or Mercury racer photos. They never state which ones they have seen, where they saw them what form they would like them in, and of course, whether or not they are willing to pay. The resulting email exchange usually goes down the tubes, and is a complete waste of my time. My advice to younger photographers is that if you put your images on the internet, they WILL be stolen. There is no reasonable protection for the freelance photographer, and don't kid yourself, the DMCA offers no protection for the photographer. It does protect performing artists. That's it for now, we'll talk again soon.

[titrisol]

I'm Pablo and I'm an amateur.....

I got into photography at an early age, in my native Ecuador, by watching my dad, my grandpa and my uncles play with his Nikons, Pentaxes, Leicas, etc.
I was given an Instamatic camera for my 6th Bday. That camera got quickly replaced by a Holga/Diana (120 film was easier/cheaper to get than the 126 "cartridges") and later my dad let me use his Zeiss Ikon Contessa. By the age of 10 I was mystified by darkroom work, which is what I liked the most and I spent many hours in the darkroom.

I am a bottom feeder, and a casual observer of life, going sometimes into "funks"that can last several months
I do not have a darkroom anymore (even though I have all the hardware) and I miss the smell and the magic/patience of it all.
I came also from Pnet to NFF, and then here, but also lurk into pentaxforums and rangefinder forums.

My Flickr

[Martolod]

anyone in a Fedora is ok by me. ......reminds me......i need to get another one for winter.a nice Black/charcoal one.

[titrisol]

Thanks! years ago I posted the history of that hat in NFF...
http://nelsonfoto.com/SMF/index.php?topic=22125.0

[Captain Slack]

Did I ever show you the Contessa given to me by my father-in-law?

[titrisol]

Not in person, no..... I remember eons ago you mentioning that you helped him fix it
and that he had held on to the camera for 40+ yrs even though the shutter was broken
It was a Folding Contessa, right? yum!

[Captain Slack]

Yep! That's the very one. When you & I are both out of our photography funk, we'll go for a walk and I'll bring it with me.

[alexvaras]

Hello everyone!

My name is Alex, expat living in Moscow.

I started with 13 yo taking Yashica Minister D to my trips getting nice results, then I got into a Photo Club with a lab and I liked. After Yashica I got a Pentax SLR (can't remember which) with a zoom lens and then I started college and I had no time to continue going to the lab... Even my brother gifted me a Lubitel TLR 6x6, I think it was the coolest camera ever and I took it in 2001 to Germany and Sweden for a trip, I got very nice pictures with it, amazing!!
Then I started to work and get money so I decided to buy another TLR, after reading I bought a Rolleyflex 3.5 with planar which I only shot one roll, I can't remember if I liked. I had to sell it two years ago due a bad economic situation.
Now at my 40's I started to take my old hobby back, cameras, lab, etc...

After reading a lot I went to the second hand market here in Moscow and I got Kodak Retina IIa (CLA'd) and a Rollei 35 SE, I wanted something portable and good quality. After two roll shots with same settings even same develop process (myself) the winner was Retina IIa, anyway I don't want to give up with Rollei (so cute) but pics are darker (surely something is wrong and needs service). Btw, I shoot B/W only.
Also I saw a good change to get a folding camera Ikonta 521/16 with a tessar lens in a antique shop, about 90 USD, very good preserved, I took it to service and I hope I can post a pic from her soon.
I would like to complete the system with a 4,5x6 camera (I can buy a Konica Pearl III for about 100 USD) bellows need repair, or just wait until I can buy a 6x9 with 4,5x6 mask, lots models from Voigtlander Bessa or INOS II (with skopar), Kodak Regina(xenar or tessar).
The thing from the rangefinder cameras for me is that I wear glasses, so I the viewfinder has to be HUGE (for the Retina IIa I got the sport viewfinder), so I go for alabada viewfinders.

I would like to start doing the service for cameras myself, I got a wrench spanner already.
The hard thing living in Moscow is the stuff you can get in 'home' depot' just around the corner, here requires a full investigation before doing 1 hour trip if anyone of you are from here, tips are welcome!!

Thank you for reading and I hope I can learn a lot from you
Alex

[melek]

Alex - welcome to the forums. I know that you and I have been conversing via e-mail. There are a lot of people here who can help you.

I like your selection of cameras. I also like that you shoot only b/w film.