quasigeostrophy | Jun. 20th, 2004

A post I read this morning by

joedecker got me thinking about this. I have been trying to recall what really got me into photography. I think I've narrowed it to a few key events.

1. As an undergrad in 1986, as part of the program in non-broadcast audio-visual production, I had to take a class in multi-image presentations (multiple projector 35mm slide shows). I didn't even own a 35mm camera. Up to then, on vacations I tinkered with 110 Instamatics, Disc cameras, and the like (if I could only find those pictures, but they're probably lost forever in the eternal clutter that is my parents' house). So, I did some research and ordered a Canon A-1 from Shutan Camera & Video in Chicago. It was love at first click, but I didn't have a focus (pardon the pun) - I went through an experimental phase and created some mildly interesting stuff. I even got some used darkroom equipment (some of which I'm still using today) and learned how to develop and print everything I could.

2. In the autumn of 1998,

computerchix and I went to Colorado to visit my friend T and her partner M in Denver. We never saw the front range in Denver due to foggy, drizzly weather. However, Toni, T, and I went to Buena Vista, CO for a few days, and I was captivated by the views of the collegiate peaks, including Mt. Princeton. I still wonder how much impact that photo really has. It's definitely true to what I saw standing at the overlook above the town, though. In any case, I had the bug for mountain scenery.

3. In the summer of 2000, Toni and I went to Bozeman, MT, with her brother's family to stay with his wife's sister's family (did you follow all that?). We saw a lot of the surrounding area and spent a couple of days in Yellowstone National Park. Pictures #3, 5 - 8, & 11-13 in this gallery were taken on that trip. I had found my equivalent to Ansel Adams' Yosemite. I still want to go back there, whenever I can. I especially want to do a winter photo trip sometime.

4. I think it was later that same summer, when Toni, my friend M, and his then-fiancée N went with me to The Eiteljorg Museum of American Indian and Western Art to see this exhibit of Ansel Adams' works. I was already quite familiar with Adams, but this was my first chance to see most of his famous work printed as intended. I think my favorite and the most influential (to me) of his works is Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, 1941.

5. Late summer 2001, during a long driving trip Toni and I made that included Grand Teton National Park, Grand Coulee Dam, Mt. St. Helens, Portland, Craters of the Moon, etc., I got to pass through Yellowstone again, briefly. It was worth it, though. This shot almost didn't exist - we found a close parking space, and a spot away from the typical vista with just enough room off the busy beaten path to set up the 4x5 view camera. I was still experimenting with that camera, and the result I got (which I forgot to bracket) is hanging in our stairwell, as a 24x30 print. This was the point where I decided I could be pretty good at this. Unfortunately, my A-1 died on that trip. Thank goodness for borrowed backup bodies.

6. In January, 2003, I flew out to Reno to attend a winter photo seminar at Mono Lake (and even got to work a bit in the surrounding area before the seminar with

joedecker and his wife). My results speak for themselves, I think. Even though my favorite area is still Yellowstone, and that shot of lower falls one of my very favorites, the Mono Lake trip was my first scenic/nature outing with such a high keep ratio, particularly since I was still learning my new Canon EOS-1v.

While I seem to be branching out into other areas (boudoir, in particular), and I'm certainly still learning, I think those six events have been the most formative in my photography career. I wonder whether another one is coming up - on September 30, I'll be at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon for this seminar by the Grand Canyon Field Institute. I can't wait. :-)