Tuesday, February 21, 2012

New old lens

A month or so ago, I got a new lens.  New to me at least.  I picked up a Zenzanon 150mm for my ETRS.  Here it is mounted on the body alongside my 75mm.  I'm hoping to pick up a 50mm in the next few months.  I'd really like a 40mm, but I don't think I'm willing to invest that much into it.

Bronica ETRS with 150mm f3.5 (mounted) and 75mm f2.8


Test photo of my daughter taken with the 150mm on my ETRS.  Light is natural from window left and a reflector on the right.

Talking to myself

I don't really expect many folks are reading this.  Outside of a few friends I send links to and a top secret government data mining project, I expect this to go largely unread.  Irregardless, I will type anyway.  BTW, did you know irregardless is not a word?

Since my other blog with all my photo ramblings got eaten by a giant internet worm, it won't do much good to refer to my old posts on this blog.  I'll give a brief description of my photography and see how it goes.

I took a photography class in class in high school.  I think it was my junior year, probably 1983-84.  I enjoyed the class a lot and learned to develop film and make silver prints in the dark room.  I learned a little about photography but didn't really pursue it outside of class assignments and working on the yearbook and school newspaper.  An opportunity wasted.

After a few years of college I took a job as a graphic artist, mostly creating newspaper advertisements.  And while over the years I worked closely with photos, it was some time before I decided to try my hand a expanding my photographic skills beyond taking family snapshots.  It wasn't until after my second daughter asked for an upgrade from the family's digital point-n-shoot to a digital SLR that my interest was rekindled.  We got her a Canon Digital Rebel and she proved to be quite talented with it.  I was jealous of her camera almost immediately, but I fought the bug for a while.  I eventually broke down and bought a Canon 40D a few lenses and a flash.  Then a tripod.  Then my first (and only, so far) L series lens.  Then I bought an Alien Bee monolight.  By this time I was actively reading photo books and blogs.  Then I picked up a cheap EOS 650 on eBay.  I started shooting film again.  Then I was given an enlarger and some other darkroom equipment and picked some more on Craigslist.  All the while I'm trying to learn as much as I can about both the science and art of photography.

Since then, I've expanded my film interest into both medium format and 35mm.   I've scored a Yashica Mat LM, a Bronica ETRS, several 35mm SLRs, and rangefinders. I've love to pick up a 4x5 or *gasp* dare I dream, an 8x10 large format camera.  I've mostly been shooting 35mm on a Minolta XG-7, but I have my eye on a Nikon FM2n.

I do photography because I enjoy it.  I do it for myself, and as tempting as it can be, I resist the urge to try and make money doing it.  Maybe one day, under the right circumstances I will, but for know I will leave shooting for money to the real pros.  I don't want to be another guy with a Facebook photography business that doesn't know an f-stop from a hole in the ground.  In my defense, I know what an f-stop is.  More or less.