A Passion

One summer, when I was seven or eight, my mom bought me a camera. It was pink and rectangular and used 110 film, like the stuff in the picture at right. My mother probably had little inkling how excited I would become about taking photos.

Over the next ten years, I probably took over a hundred rolls of film. That's nothing to a professional photographer, but to a kid with no money, it's a lot. During that time, I graduated to a 35 mm point and shoot. Eventually, my mother realized I took better pictures than she did and we swapped cameras.

My Christmas present during my freshman year of college was a nice new 35 mm point and shoot purchased especially for my semester abroad in London. My mother reclaimed her older camera that had traveled with me to Venezuela and Papua New Guinea and I journeyed forth taking over thirty rolls of film during my twelve week stay across the pond.

Before I headed to Africa during my last semester at Houghton, I saved enough money to purchase a Canon Rebel manual/automatic 35 mm with two lenses. It served me well during my time abroad and for a few years after college.

Now, I have my Panasonic DMC-FZ7 and I can't get enough. Digital is the best thing to happen to photography since photography was invented. It's awesome to be able to take as many pictures as I want without having to worry about how much it might cost to process all the film. It's a lot of fun to be able to mess around with my pictures and share them online. I can get them printed when I want to, but I don't have to pay for all the bad shots to get the good ones.

It's pretty common to see me wandering around campus or town just taking pictures of stuff that looks interesting. There are days that I leave a little early for work so I can take a few pictures on the way to the Y. And, if I'm in nature, my camera is always at my side, waiting to capture flowers and insects and animals and scenery. There are probably times when people have thought me to be crazy, but mostly no one pays attention.

As a way to pay homage to my love of photography and, hopefully, develop my skills in this area, I am going to begin posting a "photo of the day." This blog will still have all the other stuff it's famous for, but I'm also going to use it as a place to showcase my passion, if not my talent.

Anyway, here you are: my first photo of the day, taken last fall standing on the quad. I love the moon in the afternoon. Enjoy!