A few albums can be selected on the navigation bar above..
Recent photos ("Family Album")
The Gray Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio ~ Vintage Radio
Also on this page: Why go
"retro"? and Why not!
Katie
My photographer daughter - Katie. What a kick to share a hobby with
your kid! As I'm updating this page, I realize that Katie is now 21, and
no longer a "kid!"
Katie at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Austin, TX on July
17, 2001.
A few years ago, Katie and I both shot with Nikon FE cameras and the same basic Nikon AI
lenses: 35mm f2, 50mm f2, and 135mm f2.8. I also have a 35 - 105mm
AI-S zoom, f3.5 which was used for these shots. Film was ASA 200 Kodacolor.
Katie later added a Nikon N90s, and then a Nikon D1-H and some serious lenses
to her stable of cameras. She did photography for a local equestrian
center in middle Tennessee for a year or two, and then moved on to do other
events, now shooting the occasional horse show for "FlashPoint
Photography." She has also started her own part-time photography
business. Some of her work is visible or linked at her web site "www.KatieCalvin.com".
She is currently a student at Nashville State Technical College pursuing dual
majors in business and photography.
The year was 2001, and this is a rant on why I returned to almost-manual photography
Why would one abandon much of modern gadgetry to return to the basics of
photography?
In my case, it came about as part of a discovery process. When I moved to
Texas in 1989 I wanted to get a new camera to capture this new country I was
living in. A local camera retailer convinced me the completely automated Canon EOS-10s was the
modern way to go - after all, one could still use it in manual focus and manual
exposure mode. I used it for a while and, while it had many good features,
I found myself not enjoying photography any more. Several years later I
bought a little Pentax UC-1 "cult" point & shoot 35mm to augment
it, and found myself using it much more than the Canon. My interest in
photography had just disappeared, I concluded. Then Katie signed up for a
high school photography class and we found her a great used Nikon FE.
Playing with the camera (no film) when we got home renewed an interest I hadn't
felt in a long time - hey, actually having to think about each shot was
fun! That's what I had lost and forgotten about photography. The
point & shoot cameras are superb, and I wouldn't sell my Pentax to
anyone. But, when I want a good shot and I want to control the depth of
field, lighting, exposure, etc., give me a manual camera. The beauty of
the FE is that it's a manual camera with the addition of aperture priority
"Automatic" exposure mode. Great for shooting action shots where
managing both focus and exposure is too much in limited time. And, to make
things better, a year or so ago Nikon updated their venerable FM2N to include this mode
- making it essentially equivalent to the FE (or FE2) with a couple additional
modern touches (DX film coding, 1/250 sec flash sync, thru-the-lens flash
management, etc.). So, at present, I shoot with an FM3A. Not for everyone, for sure, but
definitely my cup o' tea! Postscript: as of January 2006, Nikon has
announced that the venerable FM series of cameras, along with most of their
other film cameras will be discontinued due to the popularity of digital
cameras. The only film camera models they will continue to manufacture are
the top-of-the-line F6
and the entry model, the FM10.
However, the best laid plans of mice and men often come to naught.
While I
thoroughly enjoyed the FM3A, focusing
continued to grow to be an increasing problem. A few months ago I decided
that I needed to make a decision on an autofocus camera. The decision was
whether to go digital or stay with film. While I like the "instant
gratification" of digital, I still prefer the overall feel and sense of
film. Besides, I have a film scanner should I need digital images made
from any shots. At any rate, I recently found a mint, used Nikon F-100
body at Precision Camera (highly
recommended as a dealer - tell Ian McCown I sent you). Coupled with a
really nice Tamron 28-75mm f2.8
lens, this is a fine camera. Now the
payoff -- because of using the FM3A the last few years, I'm very comfortable now
shooting manual or aperture-priority mode and having much better control over
results. Combined with my little Nikon Coolpix 3100 digital point &
shoot, I've got the best of both worlds, and I'm really enjoying the hobby
again.
