Post by: Ivophoto on September 15, 2018, 03:21:14 am
When I was twelve years old , he decided to teach me all about photography for my birthday.
I was excited because I would get my sticky hands on that intriguing smelling piece of technique.
Imagine the deception when my father showed up with ‘my first camera’
It was a 20cmx20cm black cardboard with a 6cmx6cm hole in it.
“Son” he said. “This are all the tools you need to learn how to see what photo you want to make”
I stood with my ass in my hands.
He continued “when you can show me, through this cardboard, something worthy to spent a frame, I learn you how to do, to make the negative and the print. “
“This cardboard “ he said “is you camera lens, even better than my Rollei, because yours is a true zoom. You can keep it close to your eye for wide and far away for tele. And you have your feet as well.”
I was to young to understand, my father was 65 when I was 12 and he never got the chance to explain me again when I was at the age I was really bitten by the photo microbe, years later.
Luckily I remembered his story and years later I did the exercises to walk around with a piece of card board with a hole the size of the negative and it did not only gave me precious insight how to look but it was the ultimate tool to understand focal length, position and perspective.
My neighbor inherited the camera of here father. A marvelous Nikon F3 set. She asked me if I could learn here to photograph.
Imagine here reaction when I picked here up to go for a photo walk, with only two pieces of punched cardboard.
After a half hour she realized I was not that idiot she initially thought and we had a nice afternoon and for me it was a good refreshing exercise as well.
Of coarse we ended that afternoon taking some pictures with here Nikon, I was always less patient than my old man.
Post by: Rob C on September 15, 2018, 02:20:29 pm
It's as I always claimed: knowing about people is perhaps more interesting than just looking at their pictures.
Rob
Post by: Peter McLennan on September 15, 2018, 02:29:59 pm
It's as I always claimed: knowing about people is perhaps more interesting than just looking at their pictures.
Rob
So true!
Post by: Ivophoto on September 15, 2018, 02:52:04 pm
I don't quite know what's happening here on LuLa these days, but we seem to be making a happy move into speaking about people and their emotional attachment to photography and photographs.
It's as I always claimed: knowing about people is perhaps more interesting than just looking at their pictures.
Rob
Post by: Two23 on October 08, 2018, 06:26:45 pm
Kent in SD
Post by: Rand47 on October 30, 2018, 06:51:10 pm
Rob has a way of summing up in a sentence what takes most people a paragraph to accomplish.
Kent in SD
Just like his wonderful photographs. No surprise here!
Rand
Post by: MattBurt on October 30, 2018, 07:00:12 pm
When I was in art school an instructor who I had for photography, print making, and watercolor had us make matte board frames to take around and practice composing with. I forget which of his classes that was for but it was probably photography (although it was also a good visualization tool for the other mediums as well). We looked and felt silly but I think it really forced us to think about the right things.
Post by: Rob C on October 31, 2018, 04:56:51 am
Rob has a way of summing up in a sentence what takes most people a paragraph to accomplish.
Kent in SD
Just come acoss this thread again: thanks for your klnd comment, but maybe the "glory" should go to my dyslexic fingers that have me type error after error, until I finally scrub out most of what I can avoid correcting! Built-in editor?
;-)
Post by: Rob C on October 31, 2018, 05:10:21 am
Just like his wonderful photographs. No surprise here!
Rand
That's very nice of you, Rand; I think that pictures depend on several different aspects that make them interesting or not, one being that if they are of a place foreign to the viewer, then the interest is often sparked just because of that - the lure of the distant?
Back in '81 when we came to live over here, I bought a couple of books by local people on the architecture of the island, mostly because it was really new to me, and promised a lot of background suggestions for model pix. Years later, none of these things inspire me - they have become the norm and I see right through them. If anything, I now crave the big smoke because of the very different lifestyle look that I once found boring... Full circle - if I get lucky!
That said, I think human nature would come back into play, and I'd instantly wish that the city model girl opportunities were back with me on the rock. Maybe it's just my perverted, discontented head!
Ciao -
Rob