can be taken back in time, transported to places
they will never be able to visit themselves. Think about it...most of
us will never be able to step foot on the moon, but almost anyone can
tell you in detail what the surface of the moon looks like thanks to an
astronaut and a camera. To capture an image like that is invaluable. To
be able to hold a piece of paper in your hand, play a video or open an
image file, and see a picture with that kind of power is not something
that happens everyday. However, I believe that every image has that
power; only the mind, and the eyes that look upon it, have the ability
to limit it’s effect.
When I was in 9th grade I got a Kodak® disc
camera. Remember those? I thought that camera was the coolest thing in
the world. I took pictures of everything. Then I started college and my
parents bought me an Olympus® OM2 35mm film camera. I loved that
camera. My father told me once that I took too many pictures, and that
I should “stop wasting the film.” That camera got me
through college photography classes, and it captured some great
pictures through the years, wasted film or not.
Brian introduced me to his Minolta® 35mm film
camera a few months after we met. It was newer than my OM2 and had many
features that were automatic: auto focus, auto F-stop, auto shutter
adjustment. I didn’t like it because I was convinced that an
automatic camera could never match the quality or accuracy of a
manually adjusted camera. He persuaded me to try it thought, and after
a while I wondered how I ever did without it. We used that camera at
our wedding, and took it along on most of our vacations. Now we have a
digital camera that—I am amazed to say—
I love even more. Being a film camera person, I
never thought I would like a digital camera. Now I take it almost
everywhere I go...you never know when one of those moments, places or
things might be there for the capturing.
There are moments and places and things in a
lifetime that—if captured into a photograph—could have a
profound effect on the viewer. There is incredible power in
photography...a child can be introduced to a grandparent that has
passed away, or a person
