I’m Not Ready…

October clearing storm, 2004.  The hills of western Maryland. (click to enlarge)
Nikon D70 (6mp); 70-300mm f/4-5.6 lens @ 85mm; 1/200th sec. @ f/7.1; ISO 200
I think the old 6mp camera and inexpensive lens held up very well with the help of a couple
of modern AI based plug-ins.

Lately, I've been asked a few times if I'm ready to scale back my photography.  Why I would be asked that I don't know.  Maybe my age.  The short answer is NO in capital letters!

I first became enamored, overcome and had fallen in love with photography in the spring of 1971.  I was 19 years old and my cousin, freshly back from serving in the USMC in Vietnam, kindly gave me the camera he carried with him during combat—a fixed lens Minolta Hi-Matic 7 with a 45mm f/1.8 lens from the early 1960s.  It was the first camera I had ever used that was anything more than an Kodak Instamatic, which had no controls. 

I remember looking at the prints from my first roll of film from that camera.  I don’t know how to adequately describe the feelings I still remember having when I saw those prints but I’ll say I was amazed at what I saw!  Not that my photos were anything more than snapshots but they were in focus, sharp, resolved fine detail and were colorful. They were better than any photos I had ever before made.  What were they?  They were of several jet aircraft landing at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport made from near the end of the runway. The planes were flying directly over my head probably no more than 150-300 ft. above me.  (Back then you could get close to airport runways and photograph.  It was a much different time.)  It was then I came to understand that photography and using a camera could be much more than taking pictures at family birthday parties, Christmas, the dog, my car, etc.  I fell in love with photography that moment and from then to now, it has been a major passion in my life.  Inadvertently, I stumbled upon a form of creativity that completely gripped me.

Fast forward to today.  I’m now 70 years old and that day I fell in love with photography was over 51 years ago.  Many, many cameras, more than a thousand rolls of film, a few hundred thousand digital images later and I can honestly say that my passion for photography has not waned one iota.  

No, I’m not ready to put down my cameras.  No I’m not ready to give up the creativity, technology, conversations, reading, looking at others’ images, traveling, etc., that I have loved about photography.  No, I’m not ready to slow down, sell off my cameras and lenses and stop going out and wandering.  No, I’m not ready to give up the pleasure I get from once in a while creating an excellent photograph.  No, I’m not ready to give up the satisfaction I receive from sharing all my knowledge, successes, mistakes and lessons learned in helping others with their photography.  I love helping others too much to stop at this young age.

I was very fortunate to stumble upon something that has brought great meaning to my life in areas other than spirituality, family, friends or work.  Many never find something that grabs them as hard as photography grabbed me.  Many never have that deep satisfaction photography has brought to me.  I count photography, the people I’ve met and friends that I’ve made through photography as one of my many blessings in life.

Didn't someone once say something about prying their camera from their cold, dead hands, to change a well known phrase?

It could have been much different.

Join me over at my website, https://www.dennismook.com.  

Thanks for looking. Enjoy!  

Dennis A. Mook  

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