My "Photographic" Life

9.13.09

Times are tough, the economy is hurting and this was a helluva job market in which to be released. I always thought of myself as unique, being able to see the world from a new perspective. Unfortunately for me, it is not I that am unique, but my generation, we all see the world differently than did our parents. They were not born into the computer age, but they grew with computer technology, learning along the way. My generation was lucky in the respect that we have been able to operate computers from a young age and become more proficient with age. Myself, I am using an old Gateway laptop, got it back in my sophomore year of college. It was $900 new, got it for a steal and now I see $350 laptops at Best Buy that outclass mine, ten fold. I named my computer back in May, after four years of service to me. The name came to me when I saw the new Star Trek movie and after being reaffirmed that Capt. Kirk is badass, I named the computer Tiberius. Too bad for me my computer performs more like a William Shatner than a Chris Pine. The computer was at one time the best piece of equipment I had, but after five years of doing analog photography, I decided to join the digital photography community and made my first DSLR (digital single-lens reflex) purchase; a Sony Alpha 100.

I had always loved Minolta cameras, my first SLR being a Minolta Maxxum 7000 from 85,' one year older than me. Despite it's heavy metal frame and it's cumbersome lens, that camera performed magnificently, everything worked like new and it even had some cutting-edge (for 1985) features. It was the first camera to feature an autofocus function and a very convenient motorized film advance. It was very user friendly as I came to find with the Minolta cameras that I owned following the 7000.

When I decided to look into a DSLR, I was unhappy to find that Minolta was no more, not in name anyway. After doing some research on what had happened, I was quite pleased to find that Minolta was still making cameras, better yet, digital cameras. The Sony Alpha was a fresh line of digital SLR's, made by Minolta, the notion pleased me greatly. The thought of Minolta finally getting the edge on Nikon, which to be honest, never impressed me. After saving up for a couple of weeks, I purchased the last remaining model A100 from the local Circuit City; they gave me a discount because it was the display. $600+ later, I found that I had everything I needed to get started, still the best investment I have ever made. The best part being that all of my old Minolta, Quantaray and Konica equipment was compatible, even my ancient flash. I was fully outfitted, five lenses, two flashes and a ton of filters.

Using that camera for the first time was an unforgettable experience to me, I was doing a shoot with one of my usual models, and the quality of the photos BLEW ME AWAY! The clarity was astounding, pixels of distinction were no where to be found and the camera internally made up for the lack of good lighting. I knew that I had gotten my money's worth. The thought that this camera is the absolute most basic model of Alpha that they make, I get hopeful when the thought of the Alpha 900 occurs... Ah, some day.

Nowadays, I have upgraded all of my accessories, but not the camera itself. It has been with me to many places, taken over ten-thousand photographs, two years old and it still stands up to the competition. My most recent investment was a 1000 mm telephoto zoom... It is a lot of fun.

Alpha and I are going on a cross-country road trip next summer with some friends, I plan to write a book of commentary and have it organized and published. The part of the trip I am looking forward to the most is the southwest. Arizona will be our main destination, staying there for a few weeks and then travel back, up the west coast and across southern Canada. We're still in the planning stage, so not much more is known than that, but I hope to remedy that soon.

I've been less busy with photography this summer - unfortunate, really. I hope to change that in the coming weeks and months, autumn in Vermont, you know. The tourists eat foliage photography up, and I don't blame them. It is easy to lose focus on the truly beautiful parts of Vermont when you have lived there for your whole life. I'm also in the process of establishing a studio, best of all: rent free!

That's what's going on these days in my "photographic" life.

Joey Collier - "A man of rare distinction... If any."