Hobbies are heart and mind engaging. They provide the fuel to keeping the body going. The fuel to do research, practise and improve to appreciate the end result. Photography has been in my blood for a very long time. The earliest recall is when my father lent me his camera, which then used the 120 roll (if I am not mistaken). The camera was like a big Lumix LX3, except that when you pressed a button, a flap came down 90 degrees with the lens. There was only twelve negatives. I must have been 12 years old or so.
Then I went to France, and I had enough money to buy my own Yashica camera, which is like a point and shoot, except it used 35mm film. It was in France that I bought my Canon AE-1 (SLR) from a Japanese adult student who was going home. I had a 50mm lens and I then bought a Tamron zoom as well as a doubler. I bought many filters (50mm) and experimented with Kodak filters; which I could buy and cut the film. My Vivitar 285 is still with me; except it cannot flash; though the tyristor does light up. My Yashica flash still works! All these equipments were from 1978! That is 32 years ago. Wow, how time flies.
There was a dark room in the university, which together with friends, we had hours of fun. I still have all the 35mm slides; as that was my preference. I still have my 35mm projector (not sure if it is working or not).
With the advent of digital camera, I bought my first HP 1 megapixel camera for over S$500! I gave that up later for a Canon G2 (4 megapixels) which could shoot raw as well as with an optical finder. It was a bit bulky, but it was reliable. I have since given it to my brother. I replaced it with the Lumix FX9 (6 megapixels) and then complement it with the Fuji Finepix sf100s, which proved to be an excellent "DSLR-like" bridge camera. The logic was simple. I did not want to relive my Canon AE-1 days where I had to lug those heavy stuffs along. It is a fantastic camera, and I still like its functionality.
However, with influence from my friend, Paul Chin, and as prices of DSLR drops, I did my research, and finally bought my Pentax K7 this January. Today, on February 6th (Sat); I joined the Pentaxians to shoot in Chinatown. You can see from the picture how passionate they can be! I love photography.
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