Re-opening the Mind's Eye

As far back as my high school and college days, I was always an avid photographer. I discovered and leaned to use single lens reflex (SLR) cameras in high school and started accumulating an assortment of manual focus Minolta gear while I was in college and for several years thereafter. Through most of the '80s and early '90s, I used it on an almost daily basis, especially when I worked for a community newspaper. I was hired as a reporter, but when they found out I had a camera and knew my way around a darkroom, I was suddenly pulling double duty, creating both words and images. Not only was it fun, it was job security.

I left the paper in the summer of 1991 to start graduate school and began using my cameras less and less, especially as I developed an interest in computers. There just wasn't time for everything. By the end of the decade, my interest in photography eventually had all but died along with the medium of film in the face of digital photography. A big part of it was that I never could afford the kind of digital camera equipment I really wanted.

Even going back to the film days, I never really warmed to auto-focus, point-n-shoot cameras. I always over-thought their capabilities and was usually frustrated with the results. When it comes to photography, I'm a bona fide control freak. You see, I really like twiddling knobs, adjusting focus, f-stops and shutter speeds and screwing on filters to make the final image match what's in my mind's eye

On several occasions over the years, I borrowed digital SLR cameras from others and quickly realized that was the type of hardware I needed if I wanted to get back into photography. Unfortunately, they commanded prices comparable to a monthly house payment and thus far above my comfort level. One of the nice things about 35mm SLR camera equipment back in the day was the technology had been around for a long time and there was a wealth of excellent second hand equipment available at affordable prices, enabling one to afford the good stuff without making a sacrificial outlay of funds. Fortunately, digital photography has finally matured to the level that the same is beginning to be true for it.

I was recently re-bitten by the digital camera bug when my dad showed me a Nikon D50 DSLR camera he'd gotten on the cheap. I found the the controls of the camera to be a little too fussy--and sometimes just plain counter-intuitive--for my taste, but it planted the idea in my mind that maybe the time had come to re-examine the notion of finding one for myself. After some investigation online, I discovered there is indeed a lively market for used DSLR hardware and some nice bargains to be had.

Eventually, I lucked up on a Samsung GX-1L camera kit that included a nice 18-55mm zoom lens for about the price of a mid-range point-n-shoot. The camera and lens are re-branded Pentax hardware, despite the fact that the lens carries the venerable Schneider-Kreutznach name, which Samsung licensed for the occasion. I rounded the kit out with a nice, used Sigma 70-210mm zoom lens for about the cost of a movie ticket and popcorn, and a dedicated flash module for my Quantaray flash that allows it to be fully compatible with this camera.

What really amazes me about this camera is not its ease of use or the fantastic photos it takes, although both statements are true, but the way it has unlocked a part of my brain--or maybe my soul--that has lain dormant far too long. I'm seeing the world with a photographer's eye again. Even when the camera isn't in my hands, I find myself framing things up as though in a viewfinder and observing the fine details I would want to capture on film, or rather, pixels. For the first time in a good 15 years or so, I find myself wanting to just go out with my camera and see what I can find to shoot.

In short, my mind's eye has been re-opened and it's good to be back in the viewfinder again!

Below are a few of my favorite shots so far: