Photography became part of my life when I was 8 years old and it never left . The beginning culprit was Aunt Brenda . She gave me a Kodak Brownie camera on my Birthday and my life changed forever.
I loved doing photos ( of anything ) and then developing them as black and white myself ,in the downstairs bathroom. My photography continued in college. My major was Biology, but I was able to get into the Masters class for Genetics, which I loved. On my senior year at Portland State, I worked under Dr Newman, a geneticist . We specifically did research on fruit flies ,examining their chromosomes through a microscope and photographing their varying shapes and anomalies related to diseases. I would remove the chromosomes from fruit flies and place the chromosomes in a special dye , study them under a microscope and then take photos which were shown in lectures. Who would think that chromosomes could be so beautiful to look at, and thus fabulous as photos. Since this was a college project, I had privileges to use the college darkroom at Portland State at no cost to me. I loved doing photos. I needed another elective and there was a Bird class that was available . You get up at 4:00 in the morning and go look at birds and name them. I was hooked then on Birds and Photography!!!
My life continued with many changes but to make a long story short I found a great partner in life . We had similar interests and as time went on we became avid Birders together. We traveled the world together to see birds. My amazing wife for my Bday got me an incredible lens , the Cannon 500mm, which blew me away with the clarity . I was given the challenge to make sure I could hold that Camera and lens ,on my own ( it was a heavy lens) and get a photos of this tiny bird , the size of a pin, way up in the sky. To make a long story short the camera came home with me , and the many, many ,dollars stayed at the photography store. The Cannon 500 of course , is still my favorite lens and every photo comes out breathtakingly beautiful. Thanks you Chantal!!!
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