"Let Us Begin"

"Let Us Begin"... how did you begin. I got this book in 1961, after the first 1000

days, and it was the standard of all the available light photography and the

purpose of photography for me at that time. I wanted to shoot available light

as these masters did... notice the names on the top of the book... a bigger

scan coming of just the names. I'd scan more of the pages, but it would mean

opening the book flat and it's starting to tear from the binding as it is. So

aside from my "tools for the trip" post which got much more stuff than I

realizedit would generate... seems that some thought I was being

disingenuous and pandering, this post is more to the point. What charged

your motor? Where was your passion ignited. This kind of work and the jazz

album covers from the late 50's and early 60's, Look Magazine etc.<div></div>

and some major names on the masthead. Now at this time most all were

using M camera's... the Nikon F having been introduced in 1959 in the U.S.,

was still very loud for the type of intimate work this book represented.<div></div>

I started at age ten, 1978, with my dad�s pentax. With my paper route money at age 12, I bought my own slr system. A ricoh with the k mount so I could at least �borrow� my dad�s lens�s. Grade 11, age 16, we had a photo course as an elective. After my first 5x7 came through under that red light, I�ve been immersed ever since.

My parents bought me a little Kodak enlarging kit that came with some envelopes of chemicals and a plastic developing tank, 3 4x5 trays and a small contact printing frame and tiny safelight. I took B&W pictures on a Brownie Starflash, developed and printed them in the bathroom. I think I was twelve. Did anyone else in the forum ever use one of these kits?

My older sister had a camera, so I wanted one too.

 

I'm ashamed to admit that's the truth. But it was playing around with my mother's camera when I was about 12 that really hooked me -- it let me do silly things like double exposures so I could feel all creative.

 

(And before someone complains that double exposures aren't silly, let me tell you: they were when I did them.)

JFK knew something about the value of good photography. He and his wife invited good photographers to hang around. And then of course they were and remain, to me, some of the most photogenic and heroic personages to inhabit our recent history.

aside from being inspired by this kind of photography, it led me to purchase a

Petri Half Frame Jr., my first good camera... then a Canon IVs2 w 50mm

serenar and a Schneider 135... finally in '62 I paid more for something small

than I ever had... an M3 w Summilux 50... carried it and an Opemus 6x6

enlarger in the trunk of my '59 Austin Healy... more on that on my bio on my

webpage www.jimbrittphoto.com, but I developed and printed everything I

could in motel and hotel rooms. Learned a lot from that experience. I always

loved the performance photos of entertainers on stage in their "moment."<div></div>

<br>

my dad

nice pic, btw...

It could have been those old 'Miscellaneous' end pages in Life magazine, some probably done by Erwitt. They were typically black and white photographs depicting a humorous situation, or something with a visual pun. The first photographer I was really aware of and who made a special impression on me in a monograph was.... surprise surprise... Cartier-Bresson.

I was given an Imperial 620 box camera in 59 at age 8. In 63 in

6th grade, I saw prints develop in a friends darkroom. It was

better than magic. My dad let me use his Contarex. The

Kodachromes still amaze me from that camera. Used a Minox

35 untill 86 when I got the M6. Also use Pentax 645 and Hexar

RF. I enjoy using them all.

you know in this digital age, I wonder if anyone will experienc in digital what

we got when we say that first print come up in a room full of red light. It really

was a magical experience.

"when we saw that first print ect."

then on second thought... maybe seeing the print come out of the printer the

way you wanted it to look will work as well as those moments in the dark.

'Course, I always think of myself in closets (before I ever had a dark room),

winding film onto reels, getting stuck, sweaty fingers re-winding until I get it

right and hoping the agitation was right, the temp was right... LOL wouldn't

have missed any of it for the world. On a roll now... blowing things up as far

as you could, til the grain was like pebbles... what a wonderful experience

photography has been and is.

When I was a kid my Dad had stacks and stacks of US Camera from a subscription he'd had in the 50's. Photography is really just an extension of my very early fascination with images.

For me it was on and off since my early teens. Actually I loved using mum's Kodak Instamatic 126 since I was little but children like cameras and taking photos anyway - they're like toys (but they make you creative).

 

I never had that much cash - only because I didn't focus the money I earned on fundamental things but instead on stupid things - but eventually after leaving school I bought a new Ricoh with K mount. Should have done my research first and should have bought used. Well, we live, we learn.

 

I could have afforded to buy more 35mm film had I not blown some of my money on Super-8 film (didn't consider it a waste then however, but it's a matter of priorities). I had some good ideas but never persevered with the failed assignments. If I had I would have got what I wanted I think.

 

There was even a time when I tried to become a stock photographer. I spend some serious (for me at that time) money on film but I let the early failures put me off. Too many mistakes happening at the same time just flustered me. Looking back at it all, there was no methodology and no focus, no discipline.

 

Now I think about it a bit more it was my love of motor racing - specifically touring cars and F1 - that got me going. I initially wanted to photograph F1 racing (professionally). Eventually I discovered that I loved photography way more than any sport or game. Though I'd happily shoot F1 it's not a priority by any means and I'm hardly practiced at tracking 300kph open-wheelers.

 

Skip to the present day. For my next assignment I'm going to put some slide film in my next SLR camera (I like to use different cameras and I change relatively often nowadays) and head off to my mechanic's house to photograph some old tools and engine parts. Hopefully I'll come away with something nice.

 

Epilogue: watching him work reignited my interest in setting up my own camera repair shop (by 'shop' I mean in my garage :-)). We'll see!

Dad & Mom, Uncle Norm, Ken Ogle, George Angrick. Early 1960's in high

school.

HC-B and Garry Winogrand, for sure.

A Kodak Instamatic as a kid, then fiddled around with my dad's Canon AE-1 a bit, later his EOS-650. Always had a camera with me on my trips, but it never really bit a 100%, because there was so much else out there to do/accomplish/see. When I finally had my kids a couple of years ago, I rediscovered my love for photography and this event also allowed my to focus on one single hobby.

used uncle's manual cam for shooting school concerts at age 8---->all underexposed.

really got intrigued by another uncle's minolta manual cam when I first saw the bright viewfinder...at 14.

 

bought first slr at 19 minolta 7000...with vivitar lens.

I terms of this forum (Leica, right?), I will admit to another reason for my entry to this system. Many above have mentioned photos as their reason for wanting to get into this thing we do. For me, it was the mechanics of this system� the nuts and bolts.

 

I was in the military in the 1980s, and while on a 1 year remote to an un-named place, I received a hard to get copy of Popular Photography magazine. In it, was an article by Bob Schwalberg called �Practical Classics�. He ran down several of his favorite cameras from the classic era, and had a short narrative on why he thought so highly of each. Flipping through the story, I came across a photo of a Leica M3. I fell in love with that camera from that photo. I don�t know why, but with 20 years of shooting at that point, and a bag of Nikons, I knew I had to have a Leica M. It was a long year, and that magazine was dog-eared from repeated reading, but upon my return to the U.S., I bought two M3s, and have never looked back.

 

I still have that magazine.<div></div>

Faking UFO photos with a polaroid in jr. high school.

nobody in my family was any more than a family snap shooter, and I still remember as a kid with a Brownie Starflash and the black boxy looking Brownie, the admonitions I used to get from my parents....dont shoot just anything, make sure its something you really want. Getting those pictures developed is expensive.

 

But, we always had copies of National Geographic, Life, and Look in the house, and the photographs in those mags just amazed me.

 

Anyhow, a fascination but no massive desire to spend money on photography kept me at that level until i was 22 yo. Then my daughter was born, and I got it in my head that I had to buy a 35mm SLR so I could have really great pics of her.

 

Well, we all know how well that theory holds water. So, I started reading every book my local library had on photography. One of them got me in the darkroom to develop Black and White, and then to print it out. That was it.........I was hooked.

 

So, I consider that year, 1973, my beginning in this unbelievable hobby. Although family considerations took precedent about 12 years later, and I had to back off it, in the spring of 2000 I "Began Again"............this time with a film scanner, computer and printer..................again, I was hooked.

I remember starting to get sort of interested in photography while I was in elementary school, taking after my brother, who got a sweet Pentax ME while he was in high school. However, @ that time, I'll admit that I was more interested in the fancy equipment than actually taking pictures (that part obviously hasn't really changed much!).

 

In the years to follow, my interest in photography gradually increased (although it has snowballed in the last 3 years). Among my initial inspirations: (1) black & white cinematography (mostly film noir & German expressionist films); (2) a few books of photography by Brassai, Weegee, & Volkmar Wentzel (a local DC photog who shot in the mode of Brassai); (3) visits to an HC-B & Arnold Newman exhibits; & (4) like Jim, those great Blue Note album covers.

I started in photography because of my dad's interest in always carrying a camera with him when he traveled in Michigan's Thumb for the phone Company. "Van" as he was known, died much too young at 49 in 1963. When I traveled those same country roads during my 34 year newspaper career I felt he was with me in spirit and somehow directed some of my work. He gave me the $2.00 or so for the 1959 Popular Photography Annual with W. Eugene Smith's Pittsburgh essay in it. I still have the annual kept in an envelope because the binding has worn out.