The SLR Learning Curve

In June of 1985, I took several Erol's Video Club paychecks' worth of cash to W. Bell & Co. in Rockville, MD and bought my first 35mm SLR - a black Minolta X-700 with a 50mm lens. I didn't have the cash for a lot of film - or a darkroom - with which to experiment, so many of my early 35mm shots were taken using the camera's fully-automatic exposure mode. Early on, most of my photos were just targets of opportunity in or near home and the quality was spotty, but it gets better. I promise!

This shot of my elderly cat Elizabeth was the second frame I ever shot with the X-700. The exposure is kind of jacked up, as it was amateurishly shot with severe backlighting. My scanner didn't appreciate the matte finish of this print, but I still like the way the cat's shape comes across via minimal highlights.

Later in 1985, the space shuttle orbitor Enterprise took a couple of low-altitude laps around the Capital Beltway atop a modified NASA 747, en route to its retirement in a hangar at Dulles Airport. With a borrowed 70-210mm zoom, I was able to catch it as it flew over Chevy Chase, MD.

January 1986. Baltimore's Inner Harbor. The USS Constellation, under an overcast sky. Again, the exposure was fully automatic, but I was beginning to see the lines and angles, perspective, balance and context that would influence my composition as I continued to learn.


January 1987 - Icicles! Young photographers just adore icicles. Leaning out the den window to shoot these as they were rapidly melting, I was lucky not to lose an eye. This was one of my first black & white shots. I do everything out of sequence.

January 1987. I was in San Francisco at the end of my last, best railroad excursion with my father. The man in this photo had been working at the top of this tall ship's rigging when we passed, on our way to Pier 39 at Fisherman's Wharf for lunch. On our way back out, we happened to catch him as he climbed back down. It was one of the first times I had planned a composition and executed it exactly as I had intended.

Summer 1987 - Sparrow in Dogwood. Birds are a pain to photograph, but this little guy was cooperative enough to get the shot. I tried to mimic his call, and this seemed to fascinate him. Each time I whistled, he turned his head to listen and then -click-.

Summer 1987 - Lincoln Memorial, looking over the sleeping tourist toward the Washington Monument and Capitol. You can't be a photographer in the DC area without shooting the architecture on the Mall.

Stay tuned, as I learn to photograph fireworks, lizards and the tropics...