My Hobby: Photography

(Georgian Bay, Ontario)

We always had cameras hanging around the house. From our Minolta mini spy camera with its guillotine-style shutter that fit in the palm of your hand, to all different forms of the 35 mm point and shoot.

When I was a teen, I bought my first SLR camera at a pawn shop in Sarnia, Ontario. With that camera, I shot in many different locations, highlighting whatever caught my eye: an impressive tree, train tracks, cargo ships or the winter ice piled along the shore of Lake Huron. I experimented with different angles and began to shoot with black and white. I got better at composition, framing subjects in different ways, using lines as diagonals, and applying the rule of thirds.

Back then, you would drop off your film roll for developing and wait, sometimes a week, before you could see the results. With the thousands of digital images now stored in my cell phone and computer, I am nostalgic for that time when you contemplated your shot with extra care, because each click cost money.

When I am much older, I imagine myself with having the reputation of being the retirement home photographer. One thing is for sure, and much to the chagrin of my youngest, I will never stop shooting.