Thu, 28 May 2020 21:00:17 -0700WeeblyMon, 04 Nov 2013 09:48:22 GMThttp://cameraforum.info/blog/50-years-of-camerasI was given my first camera at age five. It was a red Kodak box
camera that used 620 roll film. I took pictures of my friends, pets and the
rolling hills of Northeast Ohio. In 1964 my family visited the New York Worlds
Fair where I made good use of that camera. Around that time we hiked up Mt.
Greylock in New England. This was the beginning of my love for hiking and
mountain scenery. 
 
At twelve, I went backpacking in the Adirondack Mountains and
climbed Mt Marcy. My mom and I hiked portions of the Appalachian Trail and with
my brother I backpacked along the Blue Ridge and in the Great Smoky
Mountains.  Now I felt the way John Muir did when he wrote, “ …thousands
 of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that
going to the mountains is like going home, that wilderness is a necessity…”.

By 1972 I was using a 35mm SLR and went to New England to
 study Civil Engineering and hike, climb, canoe, snowshoe and ski in the
 surrounding mountains. While an exchange student in London I could climb in
Europe. Back in New England I decided to lead a climbing trip to Mexico. Through
the climbing literature I regularly read I became aware of Galen Rowell ‘s
mountain exploits and later admired his photographic style. 

After grad school and mountain rescue training at the
 University of Virginia and a climbing trip to Wyoming, I returned to New
 England. By now I had been to the summit of every peak over 4,000 feet in New
 England and was restless. After reading several books by photographer Ray
 Atkeson I made a climbing trip to the Northwest. I liked Oregon so much that I
 moved to Portland in 1980. Being a conservationist I naturally joined the local
 group of the Sierra Club and became the outings coordinator for six years.
 During this time my photographic skills improved through a succession of
 cameras and larger formats.

I have many cameras because no camera can do it all. I
use the camera that is best suited to the task at hand be it a box
camera, a view camera or something in-between. I use both film and digital
cameras. This website will relate some of my experiences with many different cameras.

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