First Post, Welcome to My New Blog!

Overview

Where It All Began: My 1st-Ever Picture,
Me & Granddaddy, December 1981

Yes, hello, it is I, Larry R Harrison Jr. This blog has been, I think, a long time coming--an outlet for me to elaborate and "chit chat" about one of my main hobbies, photography. Here, you will read different pointers on how to take better photographs, and will read basic "how to" articles on making the most of your gear available, and you will read many updates and opinions of mine regarding the latest in camera gear.

First, let me give you a brief history of my photography hobby. For a more extended history of my personal life in photography, go here.

My Personal History in Photography

I have been "at it" in the photography as far back as a 13 year-old. I had just received a 110-film camera for Christmas, and was enamored with how I could photograph life around me. I read a lot about photography in our school library and learned how to work the advanced cameras, 35mm SLRs, twin-lens-reflexes. I learned f-stops, shutter speeds, depth-of-field, etc. I also learned basics about chemical-based darkrooms (at that time, the only type that existed). I knew how to work a 35mm SLR by this time, but couldn't afford one.

Finally, the next year at age 14, I got a Nikon EM, my 1st-ever 35mm SLR. I immediately went at it, taking photos of everything, trying to be that special type of picture taker that could wow people around me. However, the limitations of film (cost, the fuss of getting slide film when no real cameras were around us, & this was pre-eBay/Amazon etc) locked me into a funk for most of the next 20 years. Other than the occasional "visit" to this hobby during a season of inspiration, I mostly did other things.

Finally, in 2003, digital allowed me to start participating in it on a more permanent, everyday basis. When I got my 1st d-SLR in Nov 2004 (a Canon Digital Rebel) and then a Nikon D50 (I'm a Nikon guy!) in Sept 2005, I really started to take off with it & have been at it ever since.


What Pictures Mean to Me

Cousins I Used to Enjoy Immensely back in 1984
(I'm on the left.) We Never Talk Anymore,
We Have Moved On & Lost Touch, But I Can At ANYTIME I
Please I Can Look at this Picture And Be
Mentally Transported Back To Those Days

To me, pictures are a means by which we can freeze time and capture memories that we can revisit anytime we wish. Our grandparents when they were still alive, our parents when they were still young and vibrant vs crippled by the passage of time & the aging inflicted upon their bodies, the time when our high-school friends or childhood buddies lived next-door & were over at our house visiting all the time before they moved away and moved on with their lives. In pictures, you can go back & see when your now 12 year-old child blossoming into adolescence & about to be preoccupied with boys was your little guy enamored with Dora the Explorer & thought you walked on water.

It is such a shame that digital did not exist until I was in my mid 30s. Digital liberates you to take all the photos you want without worry of what it costs or having to fuss with the aggravations of film. As I am something of a computer nerd as well, computer storage naturally works out for me. Since 1983-2003 was "pre-digital," the shots of that era are very scarce compared to the enormity of what I have for the time since. Man, what I could've done with it during that 20 year period, when I was 14-34.

Oh well. Since 2003 as a 34½ year-old, I have heavily photographed almost everything around me, with varying degrees of success, but with a huge amount of joy in it all along the way. The journey continues.

Again, if you wish for a more detailed & highly personal story on my historical journey, go here.