Photography became important to me when I was in my twenties. Although I had always been interested in it, I didn't really partake of it until I got my first camera - a Nikon FE2. The first images were in the "not-so-hot" category. It wasn't until I took a black & white darkroom class in college that I really became aware of the depth of the craft.
Although I'm very capable at the chemistry-end of photography, the "perfect" image has never been something I've been too hung up on. I'm much more interested in the "happy accident" - the mistakes that occur when I'm just goofing around with the camera or using the "wrong" kind of chemistry to develop my film or whatever.
The unpredictable is what grabs my attention. Also, the anticipation of the latent image. Digital's all right, but I much prefer the excitement of the remembered image over the instant gratification (or sorrow) of the digital image. At least with Polaroids there's a minute or two of anticipation involved. Recently, I've been developing film I shot in the mid-nineties (don't ask)...each roll is a surprise. Even after all these years, I'm still amazed at how cool it is to see an image I imagined (or didn't) appear on a negative.
What interests me these days is still pretty much the same...the surprise, the "happy accident." To that end, I still photograph with traditional film cameras (35mm & medium format) although I've been branching off into the area of "toy" cameras in the past few years. My current fav is a Woca, which is produced by the same people that make Holgas. Recently, I bought a Lomo fisheye, which I totally adore - crazy, weird, distorted images. And, of course, I'm still a pinhole fanatic.
Take a look around and let me know what you think or if you have any questions on the cameras or my processes.
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