As I mentioned in another post, I recently joined the Camera Club of Ottawa. This has caused me to reflect on my photographic history.

Though I’ve been taking for photos for almost as long as I can remember, starting with a 126 film camera when I was really young. When I was a bit older, I moved on to a twin-lens reflex 120 camera and learned black and white darkroom techniques from my grandfather. I finally got a Nikon N2000 (a 35mm camera) in high school, where I shot a gazillion rolls of black and white film with the camera club and yearbook and printed more black and white photos than I can count. I continued this in university where I joined the camera club, which gave me access to their darkroom facilities.

Once digital cameras hit the market, I bought a Kodak point-and-shoot type of digital camera, but I still shot film, just not as much. At some point, I upgraded to a Canon SD850IS point-and-shoot that had much higher resolution and more features.

Eventually, I bought a Canon digital Rebel DSLR and my days of shooting film were at an end. I’ve shot tens of thousands of photos since going digital. The freedom to shoot and not have to worry about running out of film or the cost of developing and printing is truly liberating. Granted, when I was shooting black and white film, I tended not to be terribly concerned about it because I was mostly shooting bulk film and did my own processing, but it’s still nice to be able to spend 10 or 15 frames (or more!) trying to get everything just perfect.

Currently, I primarily shoot with a Canon 70D, but I have some other specialized cameras, including a GoPro Hero 3 Black and a DJI Phantom 2 Vision+. While all of my cameras can record video, I don’t tend to shoot video with my 70D, mostly because you can hear the autofocus of my Sigma 18-200 chattering on the audio. I still use my Canon SD850IS from time to time and I also shoot a lot of photos with my iPhone 6. It’s amazing what you can do with the camera in your phone.

Lately, a lot of people have been asking me “so, what type of photography do you shoot?”. That’s the topic for another blog entry, I think.