The Love Affair Begins?

In 2005 I showed up at my uncle's door in England -- fresh-faced, naive, and ready to live. I travelled, met people, and had my poor small-town bearing ground into paste on the tiles of the London Underground. My Uncle, somewhat frustrated, made me take his camera (a Canon 300d Digital SLR) with me on a visit to Salisbury to see Stone henge here (one of my first 5 pics :D ).

When I first looked through the viewfinder and out onto the pentaprism directed landscape two epiphanic moments seared through me at the same time.

Firstly, and most importantly, a release of frustration like I had never known. A channel for my imagination at last. Whether or not my voice was of interest to others was moot... I derived MASSIVE amounts of enjoyment out of something created by my own hand. A positive feedback loop that has since taken control of my life. The second feeling was regret. Sadness for the 25 years I had spent without knowing about this outlet and without developing my skill. Because of these two things I inculcated myself into a world of photography. I read as many books as I could, never put down my camera, and annoyed my friends endlessly.

Now, a few years later, the passion is tempered by every day life and as much as it is a part of me and my routine it inevitably fails to spark those same emotions. Until today.



I developed my first roll of film. I had recently picked up a simple Pentax 35mm Spotomatic and a role of Blacks 400 ISO film. Firing off the frames as quickly as possible and with little eye for composition, I was really just excited to see if the camera worked and if I even knew how to properly expose... for all I knew the shutter wasn't even closing properly.

Forgoing darkroom development until next week, I went to Black's and had them developed. So, as I sit here with my pictures spread out in front of me, tangible in a way I've never had, I feel alive with the breath of art and am as excited as I was that day at Stone Henge. Maybe not as divergent a moment but every bit as satisfying.

I have loaded a new role of film and, with an assurance that I know what I am doing, am heading out to develop my eye and produce something that makes me proud.

Next up, Darkroom.