How the mighty have fallen, me and photography.

It's really weird to look back on my history as a working(part-time) photographer, and wondering where I went wrong, but here's a little history.

I remember it well, it was right around 1981 that I became interested in photography. Everytime I shopped with my Mom at Upper Canada Mall we would make a little stop at the Sears restaurant for lunch, and on the way out we would go by the old coin booth set up just outside the entrance so I could see what old coins they had for sale. It was about that time when Sear started selling "real" cameras, not just point and shoot, but 35mm cameras with all the toys and the possible accesorries, and they caught my eye.

It was about a year later that I got my first camera, a Minolta X570 with a 50mm F2 lens. Sure it wasn't the top of the line, but even a basic Nikon or Canon was about 50% more, and I WAS paying for half. I'd like to thank my parents for putting in the other half though:)

The Summer went by while I learned how to take photographs, it was fall when I figured is was time to add to my camera. So later that year I picked up a new flash(360px), and was caught taking lots of photographs at family events. With winter coming(and school starting...grade 8) it was best to put my photography hobby on hold until the summer.

I lived for quite a while with just one lens, but I longed:) for something longer:), YEP a zoom lens. It was the fall of 1984 when I picked up my Vivitar Series 1 70-210 f2.8-4.0 lens and man oh man did I love it. Tack sharp, real heavyweight for it's day. As good as anything made by the big guys, and about $270 in 1984 ... pretty good money I must say.

Enough about my equipment, but I ended up with a few more lenses, motor drives, and another flash, tripod, monopod BLAH BLAH BLAH!

SO, it was about grade 10 when I started to come out of my shell, so I offered to shoot for the high school yearbook. Over the year I was able to get out of some classes to photograph events, and to say I loved the interaction with the students was an understatement. It wasn't until the next year that I became the major contributor to the yearbook. Besides the teams/groups I played on or was a member of, tennis, skiing, golf, table tennis, photography, I was able to take lots of days off for special events. The biggest event was when the Senior boys volleyball team won the OFSA championship .....AWESOME, and I was the photographer.

Since my school life was ending soon I decided it was time to decide what to do. I ended up deciding to stay and take a few grade 13 clsses and take CO-op. I was lucky enough to be the first Co-op student accepted by the Markham Economist and Sun newspaper. I worked there for about 3 years, doing events and such, but it was a screw up(thanks Jo-ann Stevenson!) that saw me getting less and less freelance work, sure I was pissed off, but I was just finishing up College(Humber College North Campus, Creative Photography) that I didn't really worry.

Over the years I've taken many family/group photos, and lots of weddings, but I finally decided that if wedding photography was my life then I didn't want to do it anymore. Most people don't understand how pressure filled being a wedding photographer is, you screw up and other people suffer. Besides,the event can never be recreated, and bad word of mouth can ruin you.

Do I still enjoy photography? SURE, but it's not the passion it once was. What's worse is that photograpy isn't the art it once was either. The art is now in Photoshop and how proficient you are at manipulating a digital image, not with proper composition,lighting, even good timing. Just shoot a million picures and surely something will look good. I wonder if one day cats will be taking "photographs" that'll hang in our best art museums, god knows skill isn't required anymore.

Will I update my camera equipment? SURE, but maybe I'll take that little trip to Alberta I've been talking about, if only to say goodbye to my trusty Minoltas, They sure have been good to me!

Brent

P.s. If I had my whits about me, I never would have gone to the second year of college, but that's another story.

P.P.s I really need to thank my Uncle Bob, he was the inspiration for all the photography I did over the years, thanks Bob.