The Art of Seeing - Day 168 - Daily Haiku

Through photography
I learned true observation
The art of seeing

This post started out as a response to @carolkean. Thanks for the inspiration, Carol!

I've loved photography since I was a kid, thanks in large part to my dad's love for fine cameras, and to my mother's love for black and white photography. I attended photographic exhibits with them both.

But I never had a really decent camera until my then-husband got me a very nice Nikon for my 40th birthday. Though, through the magic of volunteering, family and friends, I managed to use some truly amazing cameras over the years; though at this late date I have damned few of the photos I took with them to show for it.

Naturally, I haven't found my Nikon outfit since we moved here, six and a half years ago, lol! Though Marek had the next model Nikon after mine, and gave his outfit to me, so at least I know where that one is!

And I'm seriously old school. As in music, though I love digital technology, I'm really an analogue girl. I'll always prefer the richness of color and depth of field of a good 35mm film over digital, and my real love is large format, which is quite simply unbeatable.

Which is also why I still love vinyls over CDs. They sound better . . . far better. Our eyes and ears are analogue, NOT digital, and as good as digital has become, film is still what I compare against. ;-)

My Nikon is still in a box, unfound as of yet, hopefully not with the batteries still in it (which would be bad), along with a vast array of other cameras and photography equipment.

Somewhere, in more boxes, I have several cameras inherited from my dad, and several more that I collected over the years, many of which are okay but not great, but a few of which are exceptional. Of course, none of them are worth much these days, as so few people still want to deal with the vagaries and expense of film and developing.

I even have a complete set of darkroom equipment, given to me by a close friend (and award-winning photographer) in Florida, Joe Griffith, when he finally went fully digital. Joe and his wife Gloria were always among my favorite people.

Marek, also a photographer, doesn't want me to set up the darkroom equipment and use it, because of the smell of the chemicals. One of these days I'll rent a room somewhere, with a heater and running water, and do just that. It's high time I learned to actually USE all the equipment I own, photographic and musical. Way past time, in point of fact.

Photography has that one essential ingredient that keeps me hooked, which it shares in common with ALL of my favorite subjects: no one person can learn it all.

There is just too much to know, and too vast an array of knowledge, ideas, techniques, approaches, styles, etc., for any one person to even take it all in, much less internalize it all.

And for the past twenty years or so, the technology itself is changing so rapidly that no one person can even keep up!

And have I mentioned that I'm a tech geek? Completely? Which, since I'm into analogue equipment, means that I'm also into the fine craftsmanship of some of the early cameras, which were truly works of art in themselves.

Too much to know, too little time, but MAN!!! How much fun we can have along the way. ;-)

This flower photograph is one that is close to my heart, which Joe took of one of my own orchids at the height of its bloom, hanging on the front porch of my home in Largo, Florida. This photo was taken shortly after I split from my soon-to-be-ex-husband, which was really sad for Joe, as he was very close to us both.

But Joe being Joe, he promptly announced that he loved us both, and flatly refused to take sides. Which was kind of a moot point at the time, as my ex and I remained close friends, and regularly socialized, until I moved to Tennessee.

But what a testament to Joe, and to Gloria, and to the kind of people they have always been . . . and how sad that so few people choose to take the high road in such times, when the couple in question is already going through more than enough stress, thank you very much. I will always adore them both.

My photograph of Joe's photograph doesn't come close to doing it justice, as his was taken with his professional calibre Sony digital camera (no idea what model, sorry). But it is a gorgeous photo of one of my very favorite orchids, which sadly didn't survive the move, but lives on in my memory, and through this lovely photograph.

Thank you, Joe. I love you and miss you.

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art and flair courtesy of @PegasusPhysics