History

My First real camera

Image


I was but a boy, 16 if I remember well when I got my first Camera. I mean my very own camera. I earned money working holidays for my Brother doing electrical installations. He was going to Hong Kong with friends. I gave him R450-00 to buy me a camera as they were a lot cheaper in foreign countries.
I shall never forget it. a  brand new Canon AE .1. with a zoom lens. I studied that camera inside and out and I took many photographs with it. It became a part of me and I knew it so well that  I did not have to concentrate it when using it.I knew all its settings and I knew all its quirks.
I spent two years in the Army and ended up in Media Liaison where I met my Sugar Mommy who had a professional Nikon and even stayed with her for a while. through her and through my work in the Army I met many journalists.
As it turned out I escorted female journalists to the Operational Area in Namibia and I fell in love with  one and with he profession. i finished my Compulsory Service on a Friday and the Monday I walked into my first job as a Journalist.It was arranged through a friend I met in Media liaison .

I worked for an Agricultural Newspaper. i was trained to type and I was given a camera. I was not allowed to use my own. I took thousands of images. I was taught to load my own film and was told to finish a  whole roll of film. They came in tins of about 100 feet if I remember well. i was taught to develop black and white film.I was taught to print and develop photographs in the darkroom. It even included color slide film.

Thereafter I worked in Journalism for nine years until I finally left and started a career in Road Transportation and Courier Services.All the while my trusty Canon was hanging from my shoulders.I recorded history in South Africa with it. i met Ministers and presidents and Revolutionaries and interviewed them and wrote about them. I will never forget my days in the Supreme Court of South Africa and meeting "Terrorists" from both sides of the South African Political Divide. AWB and ANC.

I married a Journalist and worked with people who became Legends in their own right in my Country. My rusty Canon hanging from my shoulder.

My ex wife destroyed all my images I captured through the years when we got divorce. A whole box full of irreplaceable memories, gone forever. In later years I did photography for friends and family on special occasions.

Then one day my camera could not be repaired any more after thirty years of use it finally gave in. I was devastated and for years I stayed without rather than trying to use anything else. Finally I succumbed and was going on a trip with my family and I bought a new Camera a Canon Powershot SX 60 HS. I could not afford the modern day professional cameras and it just had to do.

So now it is hanging from my side. Not the same quality not the same feel but dong the job required of it. One day when my ship comes in I shall buy a professional camera. I think I owe it to myself as I still love photography.If you check my Facebook page you shall notice it clearly.


I include some recent images




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