I’ve been interested and involved in photography since the early 80’s. I was a student at Northwood Junior High School in Arkansas when I petitioned the vice principal for funds to set up a darkroom in a closet attached to the Yearbook classroom. If memory serves, the Yearbook teacher was also the school’s history teacher and Yearbook was an aside for her. After making me research costs for supplies and equipment, Vice Principal Smith agreed to my proposal. I was an eighth-grader using a darkroom that neither the vice principal or teacher understood. Up until then, photography for the Yearbook consisted of arming students with point and shoot cameras with the film being sent off to a lab for processing.

Using this darkroom, I self-taught myself film development and making prints with an enlarger. This was way before the Internet, blogs and YouTube. My information came strictly from books and just trying things on my own. My dad had some old darkroom equipment he gave me as well and I set up another darkroom in a coat closet at home. Somewhere along the line he also gave me his old Yashica D TLR camera. This camera sat unused for many, many years since I found it to be too clunky and old fashioned for “real” photography. 35mm was my gold standard at the time.

I later took photography classes at Putnam City High School in Oklahoma City and made use of a really great and well-appointed darkroom there. This was also my first actual formal instruction in photography. Sam Effinger was my teacher and taught me so much! In addtion to these photography classes, I photographed school events for the school newspaper and yearbook. I developed all of my own film and printed the photographs at school. Hundreds of rolls of black and white film. Color film was still sent off for processing.

After high school, I had an on-again-off-again relationship with photography. I still took photos from time to time. I still had home darkrooms, but I lacked the free time to devote to it. I was working and, later, starting a family.

Then in the mid to late 90’s, digital photography took off in a big way and I jumped fully back on the photography bandwagon. By the 2010’s I was knee-deep in photography again and eventually started doing it professionally. I shot family portraits, senior photos and tons of weddings. All digital and no film during this period. Like most things we do for “work,” the joy of it started to fade away. The demands of clients and time away from family just wasn’t worth it. And I wasn’t photographing for fun, but for profit. Those are two different animals. I eventually shuttered (pun intended) my photography business and sold or gave away most of my gear. That was almost a decade ago. Since that time, my only photography had been the photos I took with my phone.

Then in July, 2024 I was exploring an Annie Leibovitz exhibition at the Wichita Art Museum. Seeing her work, most of it produced with now-vintage cameras and film, got me excited about photography again. Right then and there, I sat my girlfiend down on a bench in the museum and explained how I wanted to do photography again. I still had an old Minolta STRMC-II 35mm SLR and that Yashica D from my dad laying around I could use.

A vacation to Angel Fire, NM in August, 2024 seemed like the perfect time to dip my toes back into film photography. I took the Minolta and Yashica along with me to New Mexico. I put film through both of those cameras. This would be the first time I’d ever put film through Dad’s old camera. And it was my first time shooting anything other than 35mm.

I ordered new film development gear, a changing bag and chemistry. I bought a nice scanner for converting negatives to digital format. I developed the vacation film and was, once again, completely enamored with the process. My love of photgraphy was back.

Since then, I’ve developed a case of GAS (Gear Acquistion Syndrome). I’ve snagged up a number of vintage cameras to include 35mm, medium format, viewfinders, rangefinders and TLRs. I’ve already put many rolls of film through these cameras and have been completely blown away that cameras from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s still work and can produce exceptional photographs.

And I’m learning that some old cameras often require maintenance and repairs to function propertly. I’ve set up a home repair bench and equipped it with some specialty tools and other supplies. I’m in the beginning stages of learning how to work on and resurrect old cameras. I’m learning that they’re often very intricate and require patience and skills that I haven’t yet established. Think old watch repair. Watching YouTube videos of folks working on these cameras is my new Zen.

I started posting some of the new photographs I’ve taken to Facebook, and they’ve received a supportive and welcoming reception. But I’ve also come to realize that not everyone in my social media circles really care about seeing these photos or hearing about the processes and cameras I’ve used to create them. It’s a niche group that’s actually interested.

Creating this blog seemed like a logical means of posting this content online without flooding my general social media feeds with it. When delving into the film photography world again, I’ve learned that film photography is making a strong and healthy worldwide comeback. Much like vinyl records. There’s a nostaligia to it that is enjoyed by many. As such, blogs like mine are a dime a dozen. And it seems like many of the blog authors are guys just like me. Most are older males. Retired or headed that way and looking for an outlet to share their photography.

So this blog will be a place for me to post photographs and talk about film photography and vintage cameras. Some posts could potentially be long and drawn out. Some might simply be, “Hey….here are a few photos I took this weekend.” But it won’t be for profit. And it will mostly be for me. I’ll think of it as an online diary or journal for my photography and cameras. If others enjoy it or benefit from it in some way, then that will be a very nice added bonus. There will be opportunities for visitors to comment if they so desire.

And I recognize that there are many, many people with more knowledge, experience and expertise than I have. I applaud these folks and tip my hat to them.