D850

My dad was a very keen and accomplished amateur photographer who passed his love of capturing special scenes and moments on to me.  ‘Though we lived in a very small house, he carved out enough room in the basement to create a rudimentary dark room.  It wasn’t glamorous but he was a genius with the chemicals and made magic happen every time that door closed and the warning light got switched on.

In the early days, Mum wouldn’t allow me near the chemical baths but, upon returning from the UK in the summer of the ninth grade, Dad announced that it was time I learned to process my own film.  Excitement plus!!!

Earlier that summer, in Wales, and with Dad’s old Nikomat FS, I’d shot an entire roll of Ilford black and white film at Caernarfon Castle.  It was a beautiful day and we spent the entirety of the daylight hours at the castle shooting it from every possible angle (including inside its walls).  The other rolls of film I’d shot on that trip were colour so the castle images were to be my guinea pigs in the dark room.

The activities, day trips and family visits that summer are a happy blur but the memory of that day at the castle with Dad and of my first developing experience are both crystal-clear.  At that time I had no idea just how important photography would become to me but a shift happened that day in the dark room with Dad, the developing tanks, the smelly solutions, the clothes line and my first 20 pictures pegged up to dry.

Happily, one of my shots was very good indeed, both technically and artistically.  Dad’s were all corkers - every single one of them.  Realising I’d managed to create even one prodigious photograph - from vision to camera to paper - satisfied my soul, that day and now, more than any other activities or possessions ever has. In hindsight, the excitement of that shot of Caernarfon was the catalyst for my own development - personal and creative - and solidified my love of photography.

My current digital SLR, the Nikon D850, 45.7 MP with BSI full-frame sensor helps me to generate crystal-clear images with perfect fidelity and instant replay (no more waiting on film development to know if I’ve got the shot).  My results are reliable, consistent and the data allows me limitless scope for any and all post-camera production I want to attempt.  No chemicals involved.  Still, there’s a part of me that wonders what I might accomplish in 2022 with a roll of Ilford’s black and white print film, and a well kitted out darkroom….

Unlike work done in the darkroom, personal development is never complete.  We’re always learning yet still always getting some things wrong.  Individual development is not plenary. There is no “Finally!”  In the realm of photography, much development happens courtesy of our mentors and peers.

“In this world you're either growing or you're dying, so get in motion and grow!”

[Lou Holtz*]

So, no stagnancy, then - grow or die.  For the longest time I referred to photography using conditional sentences.   If I had a better camera I could take better pictures.  If I had a 400mm lens I could take better wildlife photographs.  If I had a website I could sell more pictures.  If I was allowed to fly I could travel to remote locations to shoot exotic wildlife.  Each one reflecting a vague discontent.  With age, though, comes perspective and a calm contentment with one’s lot in life.  Browsing my catalogs I am aware that exquisite scenes and moments happen in my own back yard.  Both literally and figuratively.  All the time.  Case in point, our March Hares:

Mad as a March hare!

Of course you know only too well the old expression Mad as a March hare.  It comes about because March is mating season for rabbits (and hares) in the wild and, at that time, their behaviours become rather erratic, bizarre, strenuous and - let’s go with ambitious.  These two are no exception; there seemed to be no end to the fornication in our garden during the last two weeks of March.  True that, in this shot they seem to be ignoring each other but, trust, they’re not!

There is something to be said for seeing life through a wide-open shutter, for noticing and appreciating the allure all around us.  To that end, our photography cooperative embarked on a new 100 Day Creativity Project on 1st April.  The theme:  Notice and capture one beautiful thing each day, for one hundred days.  All of my shots will show up in this space eventually.  Promise.  The rabbits are excluded because I shot those in March.

’Til next time, y’all…

*Louis Leo (Lou) Holtz is a former American college football player, coach, and analyst. As a coach he won the national championship in 1988, he has won the Paul “Bear” Bryant Award and the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year awards twice.  Each.  In 2020 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.