Welcome to my website.

And now, a brief history of photography according to Paul.

I can  remember as a child going through my dad's camera equipment and being in awe of all the different "stuff"  he had.  An old Brownie that you had to view through the top and everything appeared to be upside down!  A movie camera you had to wind up.  My sister and I used to pretend to film each other ( I think it lasted less than a minute before you had to wind it up again). He had what seemed to be a HUGE flash that I was told not to play with because it was very expensive (we ended up breaking it), and a little Kodak instamatic that  I took thousands of pictures with, even though it never had film in it.  So, I guess that means I've been taking photographs for as long as I can remember.

Then one Christmas when I was a teen, (about a hundred years ago) my parents bought me a Polaroid ZIP camera.  Ah... the instant gratification of a Polaroid! Raise your hand if you remember "Jack the Zipper".  It used two AA batteries and flash cubes. 

After playing with the Zip for a couple of years and spending way too much  money on film, cubes and batteries,  I began to get serious about photography.  

     In Jr. High, my parents bought me my first 35mm rangefinder; a Yashica GS.  A HUGE step up from the Zip.  At last  I felt like a "real" photographer. This nifty little camera took some pretty remarkable photos.  I wish I still had it.  

The itch didn't stop there however.  In high school I purchased a brand new, state-of-the-art Canon AE-1 (much against my dad's wishes and with my  mom's secret blessing). I joined the high school photo club and never looked back.  I became the photo editor of the school newspaper and yearbook for my junior and senior years. Not a bad excuse to miss a lot of classes and get into events for free... the power of a camera with a big flash and a long lens.  Over time, I added a few lenses, a flash, and a power winder (in those days it was customary to advance the film manually! ) and a black and white darkroom.  

I  was awarded a 2-year scholarship in the photography dept. at Lansing Community College (Michigan).
That is when I purchased a Mamiya 645 medium format camera (with my dad's blessing this time).  I had a great time, learned quite a lot about black and white photography, film developing, darkroom techniques and composure.  I also learned that there are a lot of different opinions of what "photography" really is.  An art, a skill, a hobby, a profession and an obsession.

I  gave up the dream of becoming a photo journalist for National Geographic after I realized I'd have to travel.  I'm  a small-town boy you see.   So, instead I landed a job as the newspaper photographer for my home town rag.  That was fun, but now instead of missing classes at school,  I was missing all my weekends with my friends to photograph "other" peoples' events!  I will admit, it was pretty nifty seeing my work published for all to enjoy (for a while).  Unfortunately, being a part-time, small town newspaper photographer is more pleasurable than profitable.

Many (many) years passed and a thick layer of dust began to gather on my cameras (the Zip now long gone).  Then one day, I discovered that I could scan my photographs and convert them to digital and make web pages.  The beginning of the Digital age! This was fun and very time consuming!  I even made a photo web page of my son's first two years.  Eventually  I bought an Intel digital web cam that could be detached from the computer.  Wow... such versatility!  Now I could take very low quality snapshots and send them to all my friends via email.  Ah the joy of the Zip was back again!

                                                                                                                       

With the digital age now in full swing, I knew it was time to re-invest in some modern equipment.  I sold my Mamiya for exactly what I paid for it, and my AE-1 for not nearly what I paid for it (Ever go on Ebay and see just how many Canon AE-1's are for sale?).  I  purchased a Canon S-30 3.2 mega pixel digital camera.   This new camera worked wonders for a while, but I definitely missed the feeling of an SLR.

                           
About a year later I purchased a Panasonic FZ10 4.0 mega pixel with a built in 12X, image stabilized Leica zoom lens  Wow!  A very nice camera, a very nice lens and a very reasonable price!  But I still missed being able to look through the lens and get sharp, rich photographs instead of great snapshots.  It was getting closer, but not there yet.

I've finally gotten back to the SLR, only now digitally.  The Nikon D70 is a high quality entry level DSLR with lots of room to expand.  It can be as easy as point-and-shoot, or as complicated as fully manual.  I also bought a HUGE 80-400 zoom lens (it's so big, it's almost obscene).  On the D70 it's equal to a 600mm lens.  Look out birdies!

Today I take photographs purely for the joy of it and to capture the art I see all around me.  I enjoy images of things we all see every day, but at perhaps a slightly different angle or perspective.  Photography is not a competition nor a career for me,  it's simply a personal expression and an expensive hobby.  My goal is to have fun and share what I see with others.  Who knows, maybe I'll even inspire someone to blow the dust off  their old camera. That would be cool.
 
I'm still an amateur and I'm still learning with each click of the shutter. I'm  Loving life and once again capturing the world... one frame at a time. Now all I need is a bigger hard drive ( Stay tuned for photo).

I hope you have enjoyed taking a walk back through time with me and looking at some of my more recent photos.

Thanks for looking.  

... and no, I don't do weddings!