Photography

In my building, there's a "Medical Photography" office. I think one person works in it. He takes photos - of medical stuff. And the school buys him his equipment, so he's got two Nikon D3s with $6,000 lenses mounted on them. He carries both around at the same time, one over each shoulder. I bump into him occasionally and I'm always a bit star struck for some reason, even though he's by no means famous.


I've wanted to do photography for a long time. I got into it, originally, in high school, when my parents gave me their old Canon AE-1 Program and some lenses for my birthday. Alas, I didn't know how to use the camera, nor did I seem to have the mind for learning at the time, so it sat, in my closet, until my first year of college.

I took a black and white photography class in 2002. We used film only, so I learned how to develop and manipulate film film photos. I didn't produce any great work during that time, but I did learn all of those technical things that my high school brain couldn't handle when I first got the AE-1. Unfortunately, once the class ended, so did my shooting. I got a couple of digital point and shoots and all of the sudden, film seemed like too much work - too pricey. (I've changed my mind about film. I think it's fantastic and I plan on getting myself a nice film camera once I've leanred the ins and outs of photography)

Anyway, I've realized lately that I spend a lot of time wanting to do things and very little time actually doing things. I'm sure, on my death bed, I'll have a lot of regrets - so I'd like to start doing those things that I've always wanted to do, not matter how scary they are. And while photography in itself isn't scary, the idea that I might invest some money in it and turn out to be a terrible photographer is.

So I bought myself a nice digital SLR camera and I've invested in some fantastic lenses. I got the Nikon D70. It's a great little tool and it has the capacity, coupled with nice lenses and good technique, to take beautiful pictures. Plus, it was cheaper than the more recent $1,000 bodies.

So far, I'm working with the following:

• Nikon d70, Digital SLR
• AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D lens
• AF Nikkor 20-35mm f/2.8D zoom lens
• Tamron SP AF28-300/3.5-6.3 XR Di LD Aspherical (IF) Macro lens

I'd like to pick up an external flash and a better tripod and eventually, I'd like to get a faster telephoto lens, though they run in the thousands of dollars, so that may never actually happen.

I'm having a lot of fun experimenting. Eventually, once I get a bit more familiar with the camera and the pictures I produce, I might even develop some kind of unique style. Right now, most of what I've done has been an imitation of several other people's style, though it's definitely helping me learn how to use the camera and the editing software (Nikon Capture).

I think I might be an okay photographer, if I stick with it.