I started shooting originally with a Fisher-Price 110 camera.  It was blue with rubber ends and a break-away neck strap and you could stick one of those vertical flashbulbs in the top for indoor shooting.  From there I graduated to my father’s Nikon FE with a Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 prime lens.  

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That was a fantastic camera and in my opinion, no other camera design has ever reached that level of perfect simplicity.  One mechanical indicator showed your f-stop setting in the viewfinder while a needle indicated the electronic light reading at the center spot of the viewfinder.  If the needle fell in the middle of the mechanical f-stop indicator, you were dead on for exposure.  A simple split prism in the viewfinder allowed you to achieve perfect focus quickly and easily and there was no need for autofocus magic to snap a sharp frame. 

Eventually I branched out into videography, making backyard films with a sony 8mm camcorder.  I began printing black and white RC prints and developing my own 35mm film.  I went to film school and shot Beta, Super16 and 35mm.  I graduated to fiber-based printing and learned the true frustration of fine art printing.

After school, I worked in a number of different jobs.  I shot HD for the first time.  I spent a year performing broadcast video evaluations for four of the Discovery International networks.  I could spot a two line analog tape dropout in a 60Hz broadcast feed.  I started carrying a Yaschica T4 35mm point and shoot camera.  I worked on an independent film and learned a ton about electricity.  I moved to New York City and learned a ton about life.  After spending 8 hours in a makeshift darkroom in a 4′ x 8′ bathroom to make a single fiber print, I gave up on chemical printing and packed my darkroom supplies in a box.  

I started shooting medium format film using a vintage Rolleiflex TLR and a Voigtlander Perkeo II 120mm rangefinder.  After paying an arm and a leg to have medium format film developed and printed, I put my Perkeo in a box.

I found myself working at an acting school.  I learned how actors think, how they talk, how they need to be talked to.  I started shooting MiniDV.  I wrote a few short films and produced none of them.  I was asked to direct a few shorts written by an actor and I learned some lessons about artistic control and the complicated nature of authorship.

I bought an open-box Sony DSC-U10 at Circuit City, a 1.3 megapixel camera the size of a pill bottle.  I started shooting everywhere, I flexed photoshop muscles.  I moved back to DC, got married, got a real job.  I bought a Canon Digital Rebel XT and a Tamron 28-70mm f/2.8 autofocus lens.  The immediacy of digital thrilled me.  The lack of a split focus screen and a dim viewfinder aggravated me.  I bought a lensbaby and again cursed the 350D’s tiny viewfinder.  I bought a Zenitar 16mm rectalinear fish-eye lens and cursed the 350D’s tiny viewfinder.  I bought an epson 2200 printer and began to experience the true joy of repeatable printing.  Gone are the days of spending four hours to create a finished fiber-based chemical print that will never quite look exactly like all the other copies you’ve already made.

The Epson 2200 broke and I cursed technology again.  I’ve since bought an Epson R2400, but I still fail to find time to use it.

So this is kind of where I stand now.  I’m still fascinated with the capture of moments, either through still frames, motion, or words.  I find myself thrilled to explore different viewpoints, different angles and unusual scenes.  I lack the discipline to create daily and I often lack the vision to discover a picture in front of me.

In spite of all that, I hope to continue shooting, continue writing, and maybe I’ll find a moment here and there worth seeing…worth reading.