Beginnings.

If this is your first visit here, I'd highly recommend reading this entry and then working your way from oldest post to newest post via the Blog Archive on the right - otherwise the narrative (as conceited as this is) might not make the most sense.  Other than that?  Welcome, thanks for coming and in case I don't see you.....  Good afternoon, good evening and goodnight!

I've admittedly been on the fence about creating a photoblog.  This is for any number of reasons, including it seeming to be a bit more ego-driven than I normally tend to be regarding photography, some concern about my real talent level and most probably just good old-fashioned laziness.....

But I was "dared" to do this by someone that should have a pretty good idea of the value of sharing these photos - because that someone is a pretty damned good photographer.  There wasn't (fortunately) the dreaded "double dog dare" involved, but before things escalated I thought it best to avoid further trouble and start posting.

So where to start....

I was considering starting with some of the first photos that made me wonder if I would be any good at this - but I think I'll hold off on those for a bit.  If for no other reason than if I have to dig up photos off of the external drives, this will just be put off for a while longer.

So we'll start with a weekend last January.  I was given a Holga camera by someone very special to me and we were escaping to Minnesota to visit some friends and get a mental break after my Mom's death.  I loaded the camera with film on the flight up and I guess the rest is history of a sort.  I couldn't wait to see the images and had just hoped against hope that maybe 2 out of the 12 potential photos were going to not be horrible.....  I say "potential" as it seems that I somehow get between 10 and 12 images back from the photo lab each time.

The first roll had 11 photos and I scanned them all.  I don't use any photoediting software on my film photos as I really like to see what the camera does to the exposure.  In the case of the Holga, it results in accidental double exposures, light leaks, funky lens flares and assorted weirdness.  The night images were made with the camera on a shaky tripod and a handheld 10 second or so exposure on "bulb" mode.  It's a miracle they came out....

Here are the first 11 photos that I ever took with my Holga.  Getting them back and looking at them was the first time that I felt like I was a "real" photographer.  Whatever the hell that means....