the future?

[doc4x5]

I have been a photographer since the 50's when my uncle showed me how to contact print family negatives. Recently I invested in scanners for medium and large format as well as a quality pigment printer capable of 16x20 prints. With those and the new beta CS3 I am on the steep learning curve toward producing decent images. It is a good thing I am a retired person; I have no idea how I functioned when I worked full time.

This is an exciting time to be a photographer. Digital capture is improving all the time but the ability to tilt and shift my view camera remains in the exclusive arena of using film. Photoshop provides a scary amount of control and I save no time over darkroom printing. I stop, go to another negative and then go back to the first. The flow, compared to the darkroom, is obviously different. I really like the ability to work for a couple of hours and then do something else. Perhaps it is my ADHD kicking in.

The whole idea of having a physical "original," the film, is reassuring to someone who has seen computers and hard disks destroy people's work. I do back up everything I do two external hard drives so my chances of personal disaster are lessened but...

I look forward to learning from and perhaps contributing to this community. I have been fortunate to live in the Pacific Northwest for almost 30 years. We have an abundance of natural subjects to photograph. I could spend my entire photographic life in the Columbia Gorge and probably be a happy person.

Eric

[jd callow]

welcome to hybrid Eric. There are people here scattered all over the learning path. I'm sure you'll ave lots to learna and share

[dwross]

Greetings from a fellow PNW'rer:

jd is right - this is a supportive place to get your feet wet (or wetter). Definitely many forks and twists on this learning path. I've been working with Photoshop since it came out, but oriented to film. I've just decided to get a digital camera and it has me scared silly - and I've been scared by anything new in my life - reason enough to plunge right in. I (and I'm sure everyone else) look forward to seeing your Gorge photos.

Denise