I put this poster together as an ode to a hobby that has given me so much through the years. It’s like the poster says although I’m getting old with every passing year when I pick up a camera I get rejuvenated. It’s a gift. Those of us that feel that way know what I mean. Those of us that don’t will probably never understand.

These camera’s represent what I have on hand right now going back to old film camera’s. It doesn’t represent the many camera’s I’ve used during my professional career. My main workhouse was the Hassleblad 503CW (shown top left in poster) with Metz flashes. However, I’ve also used Pentax 6×7, Rolleiflex twin lens, Yashica twin lens, Mamiya twin lens camera’s all of which were medium format film. In the early digital days I used Canon 6D and 8D’s. I hated the color produced by those two camera’s, in particular skin tones which caused me to do a lot of color correction in photoshop after a shoot. Although Canon is a highly respected manufacturer today because of my poor experience with early Canon digital camera’s I never went back to them and never will.

In 1980 I purchased my first camera. I knew nothing of photography and needed to learn. I was advised by the counter man at the downtown camera store to purchase a Pentax K1000 manual film camera. Of course digital camera’s weren’t invented as of yet. It had a light meter which consisted of a needle that would help you dial in the correct exposure as it moved from left to right. Of course it had PSAM modes like most camera’s. I used manual quite a bit back then as I was trying to understand the exposure triangle etc.

Like most things with me I was not a natural. It was many, many years of reading, schooling and learning from others before I finally created something that wasn’t simply a snapshot. Now, all these years later I learn something knew every day. Thanks to the internet all this information is at our finger tips.

Getting back to this poster. This image was made in my studio. Each camera was photographed individually with a Nikon D7100, 24.3 MP DSLR at f8, ISO 100, manual mode and tethered to Helicon Focus and Helicon Remote (automatic focus stacking software). I used a Nikon 40mm macro lens. Once the old photographer and each camera were individually photographed they were brought into Photoshop where I merged then all onto one canvas.

I can’t encourage my readers enough. If you haven’t tried photography it’s well worth a go. The cell phones are great and those using them are certainly photographers in their own right. However, a lot of us old school shooters are gadget guys. We love SLR’s, DSLR’s, mirror less cameras and all the fancy lens and flashes that go with them. We need those gadgets. It’s part of what endears us to the hobby. Yes, ultimately it’s about the photo but to people like me it’s more about the journey and the journey starts with the equipment and ends with photoshop.