I was not an active shooter but had film cameras since the late 50s. I used them on family vacations or holidays, mostly casual snap shots. I got a little more serious Yashica in the late 60s that got more use and a lot more use when I got married in '72 and our daughter was born in late 73. I set up a small darkroom and played with black/white. In 78 I was newly divorced and rewarded myself with a new Canon A1 and several good lenses and my frequent international travels put the camera to good use. I loved that camera, beat it to death but never failed and always worked well. I loaned the whole rig to a GF who was starting photography school including 14 lenses. 3 weeks later she sold it all and that was the end of my photography and GF for a while. Has a couple point and shoots after that.
In the 70s and 80s I took a number of shots in my recording studio which were licensed to the labels for album covers. Casual snap shots, usually with black and white film, low light moody shots of the artist relaxing or discussing something with the producer or a musician. One shot was featured on a large album and my royalties earned enough to buy a vacation home on the beach in Maui. My deal was for a small % based on sales and the label thought, being a first record for the artist that it would be essentially free for them if based on sales instead of a standard royalty deal for incidental images. The first album sold 5 million copies.
In 76 I did an album that also had one of my B/W images on the jacket that had a regular licensing fee because it was an established group but it turned out to be the biggest selling album in history until Michael Jackson's Thriller beat it by 1million unit sales of 50,000,000 copies. In 2001 I retired for the 3rd time and gave everything, everything except 1 house, 1 car and a small storage unit of person items, gave away everything including houses, cars, airplane an a successful business and moved to St Petersburg Russia. It is such a beautiful city, which I had visited first in 1976 it was shame I only had a little Canon point and shoot. A girlfriend talked me into getting a more flexible camera so the next visit back to the US, I stopped by the old neighborhood camera store I used shop in.
The salesgirl showed me the Canon models that fit my desired price range and the spec choice was the 450D but as soon as it was in my hand I was disappointed, it felt like a plastic toy. The girl said there was a similar camera that just came out by Nikon that she said would feel better but she did not want to show me because it was twice as much. I felt the new model, a D90 and it fit perfectly in my hand and seemed logically laid out. I bought it, a SB800, a Lowepro backpack, and 1 50 1.4 lens and blew 3 times my budget. I took to it right away and shot every day, carried it with me everywhere, added a 70-200 2.8vr and 17-55 2.8 and a 10-20 3.5 Sigma. Kept adding lenses and built home made studio strobes, and had a ball. Now I shoot less because the D800 and kit is to heavy to carry everywhere, but do events, weddings, portraiture, dance clubs, theater, ballet and architecture. Currently have the D90, with over 130k frames, D7000 and D800 and might add a D500 this summer. I don't need it, in fact any of my cameras would do fine. But I want one.
In the 70s and 80s I took a number of shots in my recording studio which were licensed to the labels for album covers. Casual snap shots, usually with black and white film, low light moody shots of the artist relaxing or discussing something with the producer or a musician. One shot was featured on a large album and my royalties earned enough to buy a vacation home on the beach in Maui. My deal was for a small % based on sales and the label thought, being a first record for the artist that it would be essentially free for them if based on sales instead of a standard royalty deal for incidental images. The first album sold 5 million copies.
In 76 I did an album that also had one of my B/W images on the jacket that had a regular licensing fee because it was an established group but it turned out to be the biggest selling album in history until Michael Jackson's Thriller beat it by 1million unit sales of 50,000,000 copies. In 2001 I retired for the 3rd time and gave everything, everything except 1 house, 1 car and a small storage unit of person items, gave away everything including houses, cars, airplane an a successful business and moved to St Petersburg Russia. It is such a beautiful city, which I had visited first in 1976 it was shame I only had a little Canon point and shoot. A girlfriend talked me into getting a more flexible camera so the next visit back to the US, I stopped by the old neighborhood camera store I used shop in.
The salesgirl showed me the Canon models that fit my desired price range and the spec choice was the 450D but as soon as it was in my hand I was disappointed, it felt like a plastic toy. The girl said there was a similar camera that just came out by Nikon that she said would feel better but she did not want to show me because it was twice as much. I felt the new model, a D90 and it fit perfectly in my hand and seemed logically laid out. I bought it, a SB800, a Lowepro backpack, and 1 50 1.4 lens and blew 3 times my budget. I took to it right away and shot every day, carried it with me everywhere, added a 70-200 2.8vr and 17-55 2.8 and a 10-20 3.5 Sigma. Kept adding lenses and built home made studio strobes, and had a ball. Now I shoot less because the D800 and kit is to heavy to carry everywhere, but do events, weddings, portraiture, dance clubs, theater, ballet and architecture. Currently have the D90, with over 130k frames, D7000 and D800 and might add a D500 this summer. I don't need it, in fact any of my cameras would do fine. But I want one.
