My Cameras

This is my first camera... a Kodak Brownie Bullet Camera.

I'm not quite sure what year my dad bought this for my brother and me (we each had one) but if I had to guess I would think it could have been back around 1963 or 1964.

I can see you all trying to calculate my age from that, right? :)

Anyway, I was still quite young, but recall running around the house pretending to take pictures. On occasion, we had film in the camera, but not all the time. It didn't matter to me. I just thought it was cool to take "fake" pictures too.

My dad was also into photography. When he was younger, he had a complete B&W darkroom setup. Some of the cameras he had included a Speedgraphic 4x5 view camera (reminds me of the old "gangster days" when the press all had these huge cameras), an old Argus 35mm rangefinder camera and a Polaroid Land Camera. I still have the Argus camera and will post a picture of it soon. The Speedgraphic is around too, but I'm not sure where in my house I have that... but I think the Polaroid is gone because I haven't seen it in such a long time.

So you see, it was really my dad who got me started into photography. Sure, I was just playing around with his cameras and my old Brownie camera back then and never really thought that I'd end up as a photographer. But the things we do as kids do tend to stick with you.

Later, after I had graduated from college, I bought a Canon AE-1 Program 35mm camera to take on a trip to Hawaii. I still have that camera and used it for several of my earliest weddings. After I got married, I took over my wife's Nikon FE camera with which I shot the majority of my weddings in the early 1990's. A Bronica SQ-A medium format 2-1/4 camera was to come later for all my studio work with my brides in the 90's as well.

Today, I shoot mostly with Nikon gear because I'm so familiar with their system. My Fuji S-3 is based on a Nikon body and uses Nikon lenses too, so I consider that also a Nikon clone. At my positions with two police departments and the DA's office in San Diego, I did all my crime scene work with Nikon FM-2 cameras. Ah, those were the days!

Maybe one day, I should just show up to a wedding with just the Kodak Brownie camera in hand and start taking "fake pictures" of the bride. What a surprised look I'd probably get! I can just see it now... :)