Steve Noel
In Memorium
- Location
- Casey County, KY
In my advancing age and declining health, I have to ask my self, ...What is photography to me, that I after more than 50 years, I still do it?
Up front let me say, I've always been a machinery guy. If it has well designed moving parts, I like it, and want to get my hands on it!
As a child, my mom had a Kodak Brownie "box", with the two "peep" windows, for viewfinders. One for portrait and one for landscape. The fixed "hairpin" shutter was as simple as it gets, but I loved it. ( recently acquired one at a yard sale, and it is on display in my glass fronted cabinet).
Over the years I had the various cheap 110, 127, and 35mm cameras. gradually buying ever "better" cameras, and eventually best glass that I could afford. My photographic skills gradually improved, but never achieved "pro" status. Yes, I occasionally snagged an outstanding picture, but not consistently. During the later days of film, I threw out at least 90% of each new batch. "Not good enough" to keep. Reading all the photo-magazines kept me dissatisfied. Not until digital, when I could see instantly, whether I had gotten it, did my quality began to improve noticeably. But the element of photography that held me back from achieving "excellent" status as a photographer, was the wrong focus. I was a machinery guy, not an artist. My approach was like the catch and release fisherman. After the first look at the pictures, to see if I had gotten a good one, I put them away, rarely to ever see them again. I still do. I have thousands of analog and digital pictures, that are rarely ever seen by any one.
The ever chasing of the "best machinery has for over 50 years kept me from ever becoming "one" with my equipment. Yet like addicts everywhere, I am hooked. And, looking back at the first statement of this "confession", I have sold off nearly every thing. Have left one E-p3 and two old MF lenses, with FL36 flash and some adapters etc. And yes, the roving eye can't help but look at the next try, to get the right one. And it will never happen. And so I keep it to minimum requirement, to take the occasional clutch of pictures. When I move on to the next world, I don't want the family to have to deal with dad's "old stuff". No, I'm not planning to "check out" this week.
I still enjoy this forum as well as Amin's others. I just don't post much.
If this topic strikes a cord with you, feel free to post your own observations, of, "what is photography for me".
Happy hunting!
Steve
Up front let me say, I've always been a machinery guy. If it has well designed moving parts, I like it, and want to get my hands on it!
As a child, my mom had a Kodak Brownie "box", with the two "peep" windows, for viewfinders. One for portrait and one for landscape. The fixed "hairpin" shutter was as simple as it gets, but I loved it. ( recently acquired one at a yard sale, and it is on display in my glass fronted cabinet).
Over the years I had the various cheap 110, 127, and 35mm cameras. gradually buying ever "better" cameras, and eventually best glass that I could afford. My photographic skills gradually improved, but never achieved "pro" status. Yes, I occasionally snagged an outstanding picture, but not consistently. During the later days of film, I threw out at least 90% of each new batch. "Not good enough" to keep. Reading all the photo-magazines kept me dissatisfied. Not until digital, when I could see instantly, whether I had gotten it, did my quality began to improve noticeably. But the element of photography that held me back from achieving "excellent" status as a photographer, was the wrong focus. I was a machinery guy, not an artist. My approach was like the catch and release fisherman. After the first look at the pictures, to see if I had gotten a good one, I put them away, rarely to ever see them again. I still do. I have thousands of analog and digital pictures, that are rarely ever seen by any one.
The ever chasing of the "best machinery has for over 50 years kept me from ever becoming "one" with my equipment. Yet like addicts everywhere, I am hooked. And, looking back at the first statement of this "confession", I have sold off nearly every thing. Have left one E-p3 and two old MF lenses, with FL36 flash and some adapters etc. And yes, the roving eye can't help but look at the next try, to get the right one. And it will never happen. And so I keep it to minimum requirement, to take the occasional clutch of pictures. When I move on to the next world, I don't want the family to have to deal with dad's "old stuff". No, I'm not planning to "check out" this week.
I still enjoy this forum as well as Amin's others. I just don't post much.
If this topic strikes a cord with you, feel free to post your own observations, of, "what is photography for me".
Happy hunting!
Steve