From the moment I dropped off my first roll of 110 film in that tiny-phone-booth-of-a-store called Moto-Photo, I was hooked. I begged my Mom to stop there anytime I had babysitting money. My teenage money was spent in an endless cycle of buying more film, dropping off film, and picking up my reward later—that packet of 24 negatives and the resulting 3x5 images. Heaven!
At some point, my Dad gave me this vintage Kodak 35 mm camera. That started a lifetime of collecting cameras. Of course, I collect a lot of different things, but cameras……….well, they are special.
I quickly progressed from hand me down instamatic cameras to my first big girl camera, my beloved Pentax K1000. That camera was my first purchase the summer I earned a real paycheck, reading microfilm and microfiche for 8 hours a day. As my eyesight reeled from eyestrain that summer, my photographic vision soared. I photographically stalked everything and anything that had compositional merit. And of course a lot, in the end, that really didn’t.
During college I took photography classes just to guarantee access to the darkroom facilities. I was generally found in one of two places during my days at Miami University—the darkroom or Alumni Hall in the Art and Architectural Library. Not including Thursday nights at Lottie Moon’s, but I digress………..
In that library, I had a favorite spot in the back corner where the photography books were located. They were far from the study tables and reading areas, so I would just sit on the floor. Midway through the semester, a small and well worn wooden desk and chair suddenly appeared in the corner closest to those racks of books. And it seemed to me that the burned out florescent light bulbs in that corner had been replaced as well. Apparently, one of the library folks took pity on the tiny girl sitting on the floor reading stacks of photography books day in and day out. It was my personal reading area in the library. I only recall once in my 4 years, did I ever see another soul sitting at “my” desk. I was not happy that day. How to say, “Excuse me, but that is my private desk”???? There really just isn’t an unselfish way to say that.
As my disposable income increased after graduation, so did the volume of film and accoutrements. I bought a copy stand. In the early 90’s I began creating negatives of treasured family photos. Then computers and scanners became readily available. I began to scan my voluminous collection of old photos and ephemera. Heaven again!
Still, I continued to use film for my photography.
Then something truly more magical than being given your own personal desk at the library happened. Affordable digital cameras. I bought a Canon Elph just before a special vacation to Sedona, Arizona. That was the beginning of my new digital darkroom, though I did not know it at the time. My brother convinced me to give Photoshop a try. It was a solid year before I would master even the most basic of Photoshop functions. Of course, I first gravitated to the ones that most closely mimicked darkroom activities—dodge and burn, unsharp mask, and so on.
The rest, as they say, is history.
I still love cameras. And now I love Photoshop, too. It does everything that I used to do in the darkroom. And I don’t miss the chemical smell of the darkroom at Miami one bit. But I do miss the Art and Architectural Library. And my private desk.
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