Old photographs...

When I posted about my early work in photography, I received lots of emails and comments asking to see some of those old photos. So, here are a few. I'm afraid most of my earliest images no longer exist.

In the beginning, I was mostly interested in portraiture. My youngest brother was my usual subject - mostly because he was incredibly cute and loved the attention. I took these two shots of him when I was about 14 - with a Pentax K1000 I borrowed from my dad. I don't know my shutter speed or aperture, but the images were processed in the darkroom at the Junior High. :) I was still struggling with exposure - as you can see.


In college, I tried to go a little more artsy at times. My boyfriend bought me roses - and they became the subject of a few images. Once again, my exposure is off - and the cropping leaves something to be desired. :)

My old clunker of a station wagon had enough character to be considered photo-worthy. It was absolutely gigantic, the handle fell off when you tried to roll up the windows, the heater quit working regularly (and started up again if you kicked the fender hard enough), and big rusty patches fell off when you slammed the doors - but it was a GREAT car. Especially since I could see the road speeding by through the holes in the floor. :) It looks almost stately here, though.

And here is one of my very first landscape shots. Over-exposed trees in the background, a lack of contrast overall, and a generally uninteresting composition... but I loved every minute of creating the photo. And that's what it's all about, right?

Black and White

When I was in 7th grade - maybe 14 years old - I took my first photography class. I loved working with my dad's old Pentax K1000... and I even had the opportunity to process my own photos in the darkroom. What an experience for a kid! All these years later, I still love black and white - though my portfolio has only a few examples of my own monochrome images.
I miss those hours in the darkroom. If I close my eyes, I can still smell the chemicals, and I have no doubt that I could still wind a reel with undeveloped film in the dark if I needed to. There's a certain pleasure in working in the darkroom - but times have changed.
No more film photography for me - Photoshop is my darkroom now. Technology has made it possible for me to save my work at any time without worrying about leaving something sitting in solution for too long. So the kids can be my first priority. But I wouldn't trade those hundreds of hours in the darkroom for anything. I loved every minute of it.Maybe one of these days, I'll dig out some of my old black and white shots and post them here. What do you think? Anyone interested in seeing what I was doing in the darkroom all those years ago? :)
-Varina

Why I Love Dragon Flies...

This little guy was sitting on our house when I drove in this morning - and he flew over to the garden as I got out my camera. He waited patiently while I went inside to get a sheet of tissue paper to soften the harsh light. I was able to get nice and close and take my time with him. He didn't fly away until I'd spent a good ten minutes fine-tuning my shot.

Most tiny creatures aren't too interested in sitting still while you dig out your camera, make adjustments, and stick a fat macro lens into their living space. But dragon flies are fantastic. He's beautiful, isn't he?
So - what's your opinion? Do you prefer the color version or the black and white? Click on the photo for a larger view.

-Varina