The Plunge

May 2008. Money burning a hole in my pocket. I'd always enjoyed dragging a camera along when I went fishing, camping, on a vacation. Cheap film cameras, then years of using throwaway cameras. If you drop 'em in the water, drive over 'em, whatever, you're out $5 and a couple of snapshots...

Then, December 1999, my first digital camera. A Polaroid PDC 700. 750k resolution, 16 MB memory card! The snapshots weren't any better than the throwaway cameras (actually, they were worse), but I could take a lot of them. I could get 120 pics on that 16 MB card. Tons of snapshots came, nothing special, but when I hit the road, that brick of a camera came with me.

October 2004 was the first small turning point. I got an Olympus C-765 Ultra-Zoom 4 megapixel camera for my birthday. Now I had access to "dummy modes" - Sports, Landscape, Night, Portrait, etc. Plus, I got my hands on a 2 GB memory card. 500, 600 shots before I had to download them from the card. A lot of snapshots came, and some experimenting as well. Some of my snapshots got a little better, and I started to see some things a little differently. Started to think about things like "framing the subject" or "moving closer." Nothing revolutionary, but just a subtle shift in thinking. I had started buying small accessories for that Olympus when I decided to take the plunge, to take things to the next level (to borrow a sports cliché).

So, back to May 2008. I spent the better part of two months reading about DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) cameras. I wanted to get a "real" camera, but I didn't want to spend a ton of money for what could turn out to be a passing fancy. Thus, after careful consideration, a compromise was reached. I bought a Nikon D-40 that came with a 18-55 mm kit lens. Soon after came a second lens, the 55-200 VR. The D-40 is an entry level DSLR but it has served its purpose beautifully. It has ignited a passion in me that I didn't know was there. Soon I was walking around downtown Anchorage, camping out at Potter's Marsh, braving the cold of a December evening on Turnagain Arm at sunset, all in the pursuit of trying to take fewer "snapshots" and more "photographs." When I hit the road, along came the camera bag. When I hopped on a plane, underneath the seat in front of me went the camera bag.

I started reading all I could about digital photography, bought a couple of books, began following a couple of professional photographer's blogs. Experimenting followed, turning dials, changing settings. Thousands of frames under my belt. A few, I thought, weren't too bad. I started printing the occasional 8 x10, started asking some people whose opinion I trusted for input. Some positive feedback followed, so I pressed on...

So, it's been a little more than two years since I took the plunge, and it's been worth every penny and every minute spent. In July 2010 I had my first Solo Exhibition at Border's Books in Anchorage, and just this past week I got an "Honorable Mention" at the Alaska State Fair in the "Digital Modified Art" category...