Taking it back to the beginning

January 03, 2023

I sit here wondering on my first blog what everyone cares to know about Bob or his photography. Should I talk about my latest adventures or journey back to the beginning?

I have decided to give you a peek at why I got into photography and why I shoot what I shoot. First, I must share that I’ve always been creative and explorative. I also have always been an avid outdoors person. I absolutely love backpacking, camping, and canoeing to hard-to-get places.

I was 16 when I purchased my first manual Canon AV1 35mm film camera, along with a handful of lenses and a darkroom. (I still have this camera and most of my lenses) I can assure you that I shot plenty of rolls of film that were not worth the paper that they were printed on and others that I enlarged into giant posters! All my learning was through reading books and a tremendous amount of experimentation.

I remember the first time I took my camera out for a hike. It was a cool, cloudy late-fall day in Wisconsin. I was shooting B&W Film. The woods that I was walking through wasn’t practically interesting. I came upon what appeared to be a party spot that had beer cans scattered about. Those beer cans would look fabulous hanging in the trees in place of leaves. I spend the next hour or so climbing up in the trees and sticking cans in the branches. One of my first photoshoots would be trees filled with beer cans! I still remember showing those photos to my parents. I don’t think they were very impressed. I’m sure the beer drinkers thought those trees were cool, though!

Although I have boxes of negatives, I’m not sure what happened to those beer tree photos.

I originally planned to go to school for photography, but my high school counselor talked me out of it as she convinced me that it was a starving profession. I went on to printing, advertising, business, and marketing, but I always continued my passion for photography. I have always kept a camera close by as you never know when you will have an opportunity to capture a memorable image.

In my next blog, I’ll discuss my early experimentation with manual photography and developing my images.