© Spellbound Images by Wendy - All Rights Reserved
As a very small child I loved pictures... to look at them, to feel them and to create my own. Back in the 70's, at age 11, I remember the Scott paper towel company had a contest of sorts. Save 300 UPC symbols and get a free Kodak 110 camera! Yay! Since I lived in Rochester, NY (Kodak country) that was the only camera I had ever heard of, and also lived in a large apartment complex that my father built, I had easy access to people who bought Scott paper towels! So there I was... going door to door asking everyone to save the UPC symbols from there paper towel rolls for me!... I got the Kodak 110 before the contest was up, and Oh how I loved that camera! I took pictures of everyone and everything...my family, my friends, cars, buildings, you name it! My next camera was a Polaroid... now that made things much easier. No developing costs (even though the film was a bit more expensive). Turn the photo over, count 15 seconds, and presto! Your photo was ready to view, share, and put in an album! At that time I never imagined that things would come to the digital age! Wow! What a break through! I went through a lot of camera's... from Kodak to Yashica, to Olympus. Years ago I think my X had a Minolta that I thought was pretty amazing too. So, my point here is... I love to take pictures, and it doesn't really matter what kind of camera I had, or you have. If you love to do something, you should Do It!
I have never gone to school for photography, yet my experience has been quite the education! Before digital I went through lots of film and the cost of developing/printing. There was no Photoshop or Lightroom... if you messed up... you ate it, unless of course you paid someone to do the touch up work for you during developing (which is an art in itself). Practice and hard work are all part of perfecting what you love to do. Always reading, and trying new things is what makes us good at what we do. Now that's not to say that some things are new to everyone but if it's new to you... give it a shot... it cant hurt. If it doesn't suit your style or is not something you think you will ever need or have to incorporate into what you do... try it any way... you never know when a learning process may come in handy. May not be today, may not be tomorrow, but some day down the road you may say... hey! I'm glad I absorbed that bit of information! I love to learn new things... I will never stop learning! In fact if I ever come to a point where I don't want to learn any more... I may as well be dead! I watch everything I can watch on photography, I read everything I can read about photography, I implement any ideas that I have or that other people have just to see how they work!
Now... you may think someone my age is too old to learn, or to go back to school... but I'm going to do just that. I will be attending college in the fall, and working on an AS in photographic technology. I'm so psyched about the whole adventure I can hardly stand it! I cant wait to learn new things and take them out and use them. I cant wait to be able to logically speak about what I love to do, and share it with the rest of the world! Heck! I cant wait to have some like minded people to share thoughts with and bounce things off of in hopes of more knowledge!
So here's my point with all of this... do what you love... learn what you love... don't let anyone stand in your way... and become the person you want to be!!
Always chasing the light,
Wendy
All images captured with the Olympus E500 on Lexar digital media.
