thataway4
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- Bob Austin
I am Bob Austin, and have been living in Pensacola Fl for almost 30 years. I am 85 years young. I began photography when I was 10 years old and my mother found a complete dark room setup (including a Federal enlarger) at a garage sale. My first camera:..well it was a grandfather's 4 x 5 view camera which was in my Grandmother's attic. Along with the camera were some glass plates and film which had not been developed and were taken over 20 years before. I was able to pull the images out of these old plates and negative film...not the best, but enough to feel a connection with a grandfather who I never know, since he had died when my mother was 22 in 1927. I made a 120 roll back adaptor from other camera parts for the old Kodak. By 1950 I was given a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye camera of my own, (620 film) and flash unit. I put this to good use making an album of a 6 week trip to the Boy Scout Jamboree in 1950 at Valley forge. Fortunately these phots have survived in almost original condition. I achieved Eagle Scout the next year.
In college I earned a few dollars taking photos of Fraternity events, pinnings, engagements and college events. I had purchased a Yashicaflex 2 1/4 formate camera. In 2008 I put together a slide show of my and several other student's photographs for our 50th college reunion. We revisited these photos in a monthly Zoom meeting recently where we had 35 members of the class of 1958 in attendance. I guess I was the unofficial class photographer and still am--for the reunions.
At Baylor College of Medicine, I continued to use the Yashicaflex to document our 4 years of medical school, and I had acquired an early AsahiPentax (1958 vintage). A fraternity brother, and our wives, found out that there was a $3000 profit to be made if we published the year book, rather than farming it out to one of he companies. So for our senior year we did all of the photography and published the year book. Since we were living on $300 a month, plus tuition, the extra $1.500 made a huge difference in our lives. I continued to use Pentax 35mm cameras until I moved to Cannon in 1998.
My advocation has been sailing. I began taking boating photos when 11 years old. and have continued all of my life. We took 4 years out of a medical practice to sail a 62' LOA ketch from Long Beach Calif. to East coast of the US, Bermuda, the Azores, the Med, Baltic, back across The Atlantic to the Caribbean and home to Long Beach CA. After retirement we made 4 trips on the Inland Passage to Alaska, and then sailed out 46' boat to Pensacola, Fl where we have owned a home for the last 30 years. We documented these voyages and gave lectures on the voyage to interested boaters and groups.
I moved from Pentax to Canon in 1998, In 2000 I went to the first Canon D30, and continued with each upgrade of Canon in the mid range price tier. When the Sony A nex 3 N came out I bit, and wanted to see what Sony had in the way of still cameras (I had several Sony video cameras). I then went to the Nex 5 N. I went full frame with the A 7 ii
and then the A7 iii. About 6 years ago I gave all of my Canon gear to my son, who was doing a lot of sports photography . I had the 6500 and then the 6600 for C Work.
Along the way, I have found the Sony A system to be the best of cameras I have owned during the 75 years of photography in my life. I have not done much photoshop in the past few years. One of the beauties of digital photography is the ability to try different views, techniques and see an immediate photo, you can improve upon right there on the spot.
I gave up my "cruising boat" a year ago--but still have an 18' catamaran motor boat for the waters around my home. Two years ago we obtained a miniature poodle puppy, so much of my photography has been about her. We lost our previous miniature poodle a little over a year ago, 10 1/2 years after we rescued her. It is nearing summer and the dragon flys are out in full force now. I will be trying some different macro techniques this season. I hand held and natural light last year. This year I'll try using a Macro rail, and ring flash, with a tripod (If the dragon flies will alight in the right place for me!.
In college I earned a few dollars taking photos of Fraternity events, pinnings, engagements and college events. I had purchased a Yashicaflex 2 1/4 formate camera. In 2008 I put together a slide show of my and several other student's photographs for our 50th college reunion. We revisited these photos in a monthly Zoom meeting recently where we had 35 members of the class of 1958 in attendance. I guess I was the unofficial class photographer and still am--for the reunions.
At Baylor College of Medicine, I continued to use the Yashicaflex to document our 4 years of medical school, and I had acquired an early AsahiPentax (1958 vintage). A fraternity brother, and our wives, found out that there was a $3000 profit to be made if we published the year book, rather than farming it out to one of he companies. So for our senior year we did all of the photography and published the year book. Since we were living on $300 a month, plus tuition, the extra $1.500 made a huge difference in our lives. I continued to use Pentax 35mm cameras until I moved to Cannon in 1998.
My advocation has been sailing. I began taking boating photos when 11 years old. and have continued all of my life. We took 4 years out of a medical practice to sail a 62' LOA ketch from Long Beach Calif. to East coast of the US, Bermuda, the Azores, the Med, Baltic, back across The Atlantic to the Caribbean and home to Long Beach CA. After retirement we made 4 trips on the Inland Passage to Alaska, and then sailed out 46' boat to Pensacola, Fl where we have owned a home for the last 30 years. We documented these voyages and gave lectures on the voyage to interested boaters and groups.
I moved from Pentax to Canon in 1998, In 2000 I went to the first Canon D30, and continued with each upgrade of Canon in the mid range price tier. When the Sony A nex 3 N came out I bit, and wanted to see what Sony had in the way of still cameras (I had several Sony video cameras). I then went to the Nex 5 N. I went full frame with the A 7 ii
and then the A7 iii. About 6 years ago I gave all of my Canon gear to my son, who was doing a lot of sports photography . I had the 6500 and then the 6600 for C Work.
Along the way, I have found the Sony A system to be the best of cameras I have owned during the 75 years of photography in my life. I have not done much photoshop in the past few years. One of the beauties of digital photography is the ability to try different views, techniques and see an immediate photo, you can improve upon right there on the spot.
I gave up my "cruising boat" a year ago--but still have an 18' catamaran motor boat for the waters around my home. Two years ago we obtained a miniature poodle puppy, so much of my photography has been about her. We lost our previous miniature poodle a little over a year ago, 10 1/2 years after we rescued her. It is nearing summer and the dragon flys are out in full force now. I will be trying some different macro techniques this season. I hand held and natural light last year. This year I'll try using a Macro rail, and ring flash, with a tripod (If the dragon flies will alight in the right place for me!.
If you have any questions about anything please don't hesitate to ask. Have a lovely week hunting dragonflies too!
