I got my first serious camera sometime around 1976. It was a Russian Zorki 4K rangefinder with an f2 Jupiter 50mm lens and a second or third hand Western Master V light meter and invacone. I used to shoot Kodachrome 64ASA slide film or Kodak Tri-X 400 running anywhere between 400 and 1600ASA.
Positively primitive by today’s standards, but a great way to learn about exposure and depth of field because you actually had to know what to expect before you pressed the shutter button.
After a few months I added a 35mm lens that came with a wide angle accessory finder that sat in the cold shoe on top of the camera, and then eventually I managed to track down a 135mm lens and bought a hammer head flash that connected to the camera with a PC cord.
That set up lasted me right through into the mid 1980’s when I managed to drop it and drive the 35mm finder right through the top plate, and after much weeping and gnashing of teeth I bought my first SLR. No auto focus on that one, but a built in light meter. Oh the luxury ..
Since then I’ve tried my hand, reasonably successfully, at event photography, street photography, wildlife and even the occasional landscape. My equipment has changed over the years and I now have a couple of rather old but perfectly serviceable DX DSLR cameras (Nikon D300 and Fuji S2) and a range of lenses and speedlights.
And then about 9 months ago I decided to try my hand a model photography and joined MCM. I thought to myself, I know how to use a camera, I’ve shot portraits, I like people, and I’m a good communicator.. How hard can it be?
Well I found out.
Since I’ve been a member here I’ve been lucky enough to work with a couple of excellent and professional models in @LouiseHobby and @66suzi . Both these lovely ladies were wonderfully helpful to me and showed unending patience while I was messing around with speedlights and camera settings or trying to micro manage poses that they were much more competent at than I was.
I’ve also had a great time laughing with, or occasionally at, people in these forums, and I have learned a huge amount from things posted here and the images I have seen on the site.
I have also seen the quality of images improve massively since I’ve been a member here and have to say that James is doing a fantastic job raising standards.
And now, after an honest appraisal of myself and the standard of the images being posted here I have decided that as a model photographer I really truly suck. I have about as much artistic talent as a can of baked beans, and it’s time to stop kidding myself.
So, as the strapline says, so long, and thanks for the kind words I have received here, the help that has been offered and the fun that I have had. I’ll probably lurk quietly in the shadows every now and then because cold turkey is always hard, but my reality check has shown me clearly that model photography is not for me.
Good shooting everyone.
Positively primitive by today’s standards, but a great way to learn about exposure and depth of field because you actually had to know what to expect before you pressed the shutter button.
After a few months I added a 35mm lens that came with a wide angle accessory finder that sat in the cold shoe on top of the camera, and then eventually I managed to track down a 135mm lens and bought a hammer head flash that connected to the camera with a PC cord.
That set up lasted me right through into the mid 1980’s when I managed to drop it and drive the 35mm finder right through the top plate, and after much weeping and gnashing of teeth I bought my first SLR. No auto focus on that one, but a built in light meter. Oh the luxury ..
Since then I’ve tried my hand, reasonably successfully, at event photography, street photography, wildlife and even the occasional landscape. My equipment has changed over the years and I now have a couple of rather old but perfectly serviceable DX DSLR cameras (Nikon D300 and Fuji S2) and a range of lenses and speedlights.
And then about 9 months ago I decided to try my hand a model photography and joined MCM. I thought to myself, I know how to use a camera, I’ve shot portraits, I like people, and I’m a good communicator.. How hard can it be?
Well I found out.
Since I’ve been a member here I’ve been lucky enough to work with a couple of excellent and professional models in @LouiseHobby and @66suzi . Both these lovely ladies were wonderfully helpful to me and showed unending patience while I was messing around with speedlights and camera settings or trying to micro manage poses that they were much more competent at than I was.
I’ve also had a great time laughing with, or occasionally at, people in these forums, and I have learned a huge amount from things posted here and the images I have seen on the site.
I have also seen the quality of images improve massively since I’ve been a member here and have to say that James is doing a fantastic job raising standards.
And now, after an honest appraisal of myself and the standard of the images being posted here I have decided that as a model photographer I really truly suck. I have about as much artistic talent as a can of baked beans, and it’s time to stop kidding myself.
So, as the strapline says, so long, and thanks for the kind words I have received here, the help that has been offered and the fun that I have had. I’ll probably lurk quietly in the shadows every now and then because cold turkey is always hard, but my reality check has shown me clearly that model photography is not for me.
Good shooting everyone.
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ModelFolio accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for the content or accuracy of authors comments.
ModelFolio accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for the content or accuracy of authors comments.
