Old(er) guy, New to UHH
Nov 12, 2015 18:02:04 #
Hello Hedgehogs, and Greetings from Brampton, ON, Canada (near Toronto).
First, I apologize that my avatar is a baby groundhog, which I suspect might be a distant cousin of the hedgehog, but I hope you can overlook that and still make me feel welcome here. The photo is actually my 17th (i.e., day one) with the Sony A-57 which now has a shutter count of over 26,000.
I have been lurking on UHH daily, learning from it occasionally, but definitely enjoying (read: being entertained by) the site for quite some time. I often thought of joining in on the activity but just never made the effort to register, until today. Now that I have an account I hope to contribute to the conversations.
As a now-retired scientist (physics/biology) I consider myself reasonably adept with the technical aspects of photography, but not yet a consistently great photographer. I know about the exposure triangle, the rule of thirds and many other guidelines for getting great photos. I try conscientiously to apply these concepts in the viewfinder, but despite a camera that is about as WYSIWYG as you can get I am often surprised (disappointed?) with the outcome. Ah well, practice practice practice...
My very first camera was a plastic fixed-aperture/fixed-shutter-speed job that I purchased for 50 cents and 5 coupons from the backs of Allen's Candy Cigarettes (remember the TV ads of the 1950's, "Send 5 boxtops and 50 cents to get your " ). It took half-frame photos on 127 film, so I got double the number of pictures from a roll. Yeah!!! Too bad that on a 3 x 3 inch print the only part that was in focus was an area in the middle about the size of a 50-cent piece (price of the camera???). The rest of the photo streaked radially from the centre to look something like a longer-exposure zoom effect.
My photography hobby began in earnest when I bought a Pentax Spotmatic in 1968 (the first SLR camera with TTL metering, I believe). I graduated to autofocus/autoexposure in 1986 with the purchase of the Minolta Maxxum 9000. I got into digital in 2003 with the Pentax Optio 555 (can you believe it $750 back then!!!), and bought my Sony SLT A-57 in 2012 (I went Sony partially for compatibility with my Minolta lenses). Clearly I do not have GAS, and I don't change my gear as often as some folks do their underwear.
I have always enjoyed travel and have been to more that 80 countries so far (more than 15,000 Kodachromes; over 35,000 digital images). Some of my trips were work related but many were simply extended vacations sometimes covering 15 countries over a 3-4 month period. I have now combined my interest in travel with my photography hobby by supporting my wife's work as a travel writer ("Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Clause." ).
Sorry for the long intro, but it may help readers understand some of my questions and contributions. Oh, did I mention that I have a sense of humor (I love many of the jokes in the Chit-Chat section).
Cheers for now. JF.
First, I apologize that my avatar is a baby groundhog, which I suspect might be a distant cousin of the hedgehog, but I hope you can overlook that and still make me feel welcome here. The photo is actually my 17th (i.e., day one) with the Sony A-57 which now has a shutter count of over 26,000.
I have been lurking on UHH daily, learning from it occasionally, but definitely enjoying (read: being entertained by) the site for quite some time. I often thought of joining in on the activity but just never made the effort to register, until today. Now that I have an account I hope to contribute to the conversations.
As a now-retired scientist (physics/biology) I consider myself reasonably adept with the technical aspects of photography, but not yet a consistently great photographer. I know about the exposure triangle, the rule of thirds and many other guidelines for getting great photos. I try conscientiously to apply these concepts in the viewfinder, but despite a camera that is about as WYSIWYG as you can get I am often surprised (disappointed?) with the outcome. Ah well, practice practice practice...
My very first camera was a plastic fixed-aperture/fixed-shutter-speed job that I purchased for 50 cents and 5 coupons from the backs of Allen's Candy Cigarettes (remember the TV ads of the 1950's, "Send 5 boxtops and 50 cents to get your " ). It took half-frame photos on 127 film, so I got double the number of pictures from a roll. Yeah!!! Too bad that on a 3 x 3 inch print the only part that was in focus was an area in the middle about the size of a 50-cent piece (price of the camera???). The rest of the photo streaked radially from the centre to look something like a longer-exposure zoom effect.
My photography hobby began in earnest when I bought a Pentax Spotmatic in 1968 (the first SLR camera with TTL metering, I believe). I graduated to autofocus/autoexposure in 1986 with the purchase of the Minolta Maxxum 9000. I got into digital in 2003 with the Pentax Optio 555 (can you believe it $750 back then!!!), and bought my Sony SLT A-57 in 2012 (I went Sony partially for compatibility with my Minolta lenses). Clearly I do not have GAS, and I don't change my gear as often as some folks do their underwear.
I have always enjoyed travel and have been to more that 80 countries so far (more than 15,000 Kodachromes; over 35,000 digital images). Some of my trips were work related but many were simply extended vacations sometimes covering 15 countries over a 3-4 month period. I have now combined my interest in travel with my photography hobby by supporting my wife's work as a travel writer ("Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Clause." ).
Sorry for the long intro, but it may help readers understand some of my questions and contributions. Oh, did I mention that I have a sense of humor (I love many of the jokes in the Chit-Chat section).
Cheers for now. JF.
Nov 12, 2015 18:09:04 #
Hello John welcome to the forum and thanks for the back ground info. on yourself. Post pictures ask questions and most of all have fun saying hello from Pittsburgh.
Nov 12, 2015 18:11:42 #
northsidejoe wrote:
Hello John welcome to the forum and thanks for the back ground info. on yourself. Post pictures ask questions and most of all have fun saying hello from Pittsburgh.
Thanks, Joe. I already feel noticed.
Nov 12, 2015 18:34:31 #
Nov 12, 2015 18:38:17 #
Keldon
Loc: Yukon, B.C.
Welcome, John. (from a former Ontarian (Stouffville))
Post some photos from your trips, or anything else for that matter. Theres a lot of talent here and many people willing to help and answer questions and give advise so make use of them.
Post some photos from your trips, or anything else for that matter. Theres a lot of talent here and many people willing to help and answer questions and give advise so make use of them.
Nov 12, 2015 18:42:07 #
Nov 12, 2015 18:48:55 #
Welcome John, I lived a while in Toronto working for Motorola. I enjoyed Toronto very much. Have fun here, Tom
Nov 12, 2015 22:45:44 #
To those who stopped by to welcome me (Mac, Keldon, lev29, tomvanb and northsidejoe) and those who may do so down the road, thanks. I probably won't be as active as some folks on this forum, but I will ask the occasional question and add my voice to some topics. I look forward to a positive experience on UHH.
JF
JF
Nov 13, 2015 05:11:36 #
Nov 13, 2015 05:52:59 #
tomvanb wrote:
Welcome John, I lived a while in Toronto working for Motorola. I enjoyed Toronto very much. Have fun here, Tom
Welcome to the Hog, John. I hope you find us informative and entertaining. Show us some pics.
Nov 13, 2015 06:52:45 #
Nov 13, 2015 07:21:27 #
Nov 13, 2015 07:33:14 #
Nov 13, 2015 09:25:42 #
Welcome to the Hog, John. I had a Minolta STS 101 back in the day, great camera. Glad you joined us and looking forward to your contributions. ;).
Nov 13, 2015 10:41:23 #
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.