Retirement Gift from Me to Me ...

Yeah, when I retired, I came across this classic, ahh, Kodak, large format, 8'x10', "Old School" film camera.

Perfect.

I was, ahh, an "Old School" kind of guy ... I was 62, and yeah, signed up for Social Security on my "Lunch Break" one afternoon while still teaching!

So yeah, when I was in an "Antique Store" one day, yeah, I finally picked up the "Perfect" gift for an "Old School", College Photography Instructor!

And no, I never actually, you know, used the camera, it just "anchors" my camera collection.

An "EMPIRE STATE No. 2", 8"x10" field camera, you know, the type you see in the Old movies! Where the photographer stands behind the tripod, and then covers himself with the Black Cloth to keep the light out!

And focuses the camera by looking on the "Up-side Down" image on the glass and moving the front lens back and forth until the subject is in focus, using a magnifying piece ... And no, I never really "got into it" but I did take a class on it in Graduate School, just to see what I missed!

Like I said, yeah, the camera sits right here above me as I type, with a smile on my face!

Remember, I started this whole camera thing, ahh, riding a motorcycle! Very different, to say the least!

But yeah, I like cameras ... Got my very first one when I was 18 years old, got my first real "JOB", where they paid me and everything, when I was 30, started teaching at a college a year or so later (for the military over in Germany), and then became a Free-Lance Photographer (key word, ahh, being, FREE!), where I exchanged photos for first, motorcycle trips, then rafting trips, and River Cruises, and what ever else I could find in order to keep going!

Loved it!

Got me all over the world ... And then, once I retired, yeah, I actually took the same type trips, except that I actually was able to pay for them myself!

Worked for me.

There is no ONE WAY to become a photographer ... I am proof of that! My art teachers would be shocked if they ever knew I taught, ahh, ART 261, at a real Community College, that is for sure!

I was a "handful" back in the day!

It is all about YOUR passion, whatever gets you "OUT THERE" doing what you like to do ... Or, yeah, even INSIDE, in a STUDIO, or right there at your computer!

That is the beauty of ART, something that took me a while to figure out ...

Good luck with that!

I just hope you enjoy it as much as I have over the years!

Hope to see you out there, somewhere!

Enjoy.

** Oh! And yeah, I shot this image, ahh, right here, in my dining room, Really. In fact, the large Softbox is still, like, "right there", I can see it as I hunt for the keys to type this! Yeah, I set up my studio (what? You don't?) right here, got my shot, and put the camera right back where it belongs, no damage done!

Easy.

Welcome to My World!

Shoot whatever you can, where you can, the rest is, ahh, EASY!

Like I like to say, or type ... Say it with me!

"GOOD LUCK WITH THAT"!

See ya!