Remember Film?
It really wasn't that long ago that I was ecstatic to receive a 70's-era Pentax camera from Megan's dad. I could tell he was the sort of man who decided to get into a hobby by buying all the gear. But he didn't just have gear around the house, he used it. I admire a man who takes his hobbies seriously. It was a sad event because he knew that he wasn't going to be around long enough to use it and I wondered at the time if he didn't feel that by giving his gear to me that he was giving up. Truth be told, I think he was glad to know that someone would enjoy it.
I did enjoy it until the digital revolution when the convenience of instantly viewing my photos and immediate "development" convinced me to spend a hefty sum on a Canon 10d. It didn't take long for me to completely forget how the old Pentax's sturdy metal body felt in my hands or the joy I got from the loud slam of the mirror slamming up against that metal body and then flying back to whence it came. I left my first love. This wasn't my first camera, but it's the camera where I really began to have my breakthrough in photography. I had a great minolta before that (with all the gear that my dad gave me) but the match-needle light meter was busted so I was on my own when it came to exposure. The camera was good for me in the way that my first car (a hyundai excel) was good for me: Good for learning but didn't do much to help with the ladies.
When my digital camera was stolen on my last trip to Nepal, I thought my photography days were over. I went a full month before I thought of my lonely Pentax M-series sitting in a plastic bin in my basement. "Oh yeah! Film!" I thought to myself. In a way, the thought scared me. There's no assurance that you got it right. You just have to know what you're doing and trust that the film actually works.
So if you're walking down the street and you hear a loud CLAACK-clack!, try not to fret, it's probably me going O.G. on my photography skills. Who knows, maybe the finer detail and wider tonal range will hook me for good.