Photography and Filmmaking

my post-retirement journey

Military veterans transitioning to civilian life often find that they need a new mission, something to give their life renewed purpose.  I found mine in photography and film making.  Upon retiring in 2007 I knew nothing about either craft, but eventually taught myself the fundamentals by reading blogs and watching YouTube videos.  I had shot some slides in college during a summer stay in France but couldn’t afford to continue.  Just before retiring I bought a point and shoot digital camera.  Fabulous, no more cost for film and developing!  I started taking long photo walks in nearby Brandywine Park and sharing my keepers.  Friends said I had a good eye.  They encouraged me to get serious, go deeper.  So, I bought a Nikon D200 and a 300mm telephoto lens and learned how to stalk birds in nearby Brandywine Park.  That did it.  I was smitten and began to acquire new equipment for other kinds of photography.  I wanted to experience all that I had a budget for and started selling calendars to fatten my wallet.

My across- the-street neighbor had given up film photography and asked whether I’d like to try his beloved Minolta SLR.  I said YES!  I ran a roll of color film through it and immediately recognized that film shots look different.  They are less crisp, and their highlights are more nuanced. I liked that painterly look, so I bought a flatbed scanner and started sharing my film scans on Facebook.  Again, friends encouraged me to go deeper.  I did, choosing Henri Cartier Bresson as a mentor and developing a fondness for small film cameras like the Barnack Leica rangefinder he used.  Friends saw that I really liked shooting film, so they gave me film cameras they gave up years ago.  Only a lack of space in my city row house saved me from becoming an omnivorous collector.

Early in my photography journey I joined a local club.  Most of the members were print enthusiasts, but I didn’t want to go there.  It required more equipment, plus I had no space to hang or store more and more prints. I decided instead to become an amateur photojournalist, using my work on websites and in narrated slideshows.  Eventually I discovered that photographs are valuable as B-roll material in videos, so I taught myself video editing.  Video capture is a lot more complicated than shooting stills.  I do enjoy telling stories with motion pictures but have discovered that I prefer the much simpler and often contemplative process of making still images, so I have come to prefer slideshows for my digital storytelling.  Watch the following as an example:

I’ve also discovered that I’m content to use just one lens and would rather carry a very small camera than a larger one.  I especially like the Ricoh GRiii, a jeans pocketable digital camera loved by street photographers, and the Rollei 35, the smallest 35mm film camera ever produced (except perhaps for some fabled spy devices).  See them side by side in the following photo:

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