Story with Pictures

Once upon a time there was a young woman who loved photography. Spent hours in the darkroom (yes, this is a story from the olden days) and took pictures every opportunity she got. She even got a nice new 35mm camera as a gift during her senior year of high school. Then, that same year, tragedy struck, in the form of an incoming Atlantic Ocean tide, and her camera was no more.

She continued for a while, borrowing cameras and making do as she could, but college and adulthood and limited means (darkroom time can be expensive when you’re not a student) whittled away at her time and her enthusiasm, to the point where she no longer got the same joy from photography. Sometimes it’s hard to know whether you are quitting something because you are lazy or discouraged or because the thing you are doing is no longer the right thing for you. Whatever it was, she stopped taking pictures, and pursued other interests.

Over the years, while she wasn’t paying attention, photographic technology changed, and darkroom time came to be less necessary. Digital cameras and photographic software and home printers made taking and printing photos simpler and more accessible, and after many years, the now-not-very-young woman decided to give it another try.

This month, my blog will be about photography, some of my own and some by other, much better photographers. I have a new (old) camera, and I’ll be playing around with it and seeing what I can do.

I’d love to hear about anything you’ve loved and lost and maybe started to love again. What are your stories?

(Composite image by me, from photos of the same dandelion, playing with focus and settings on my new [old] camera.)