Pentax

As a kid I rejected all the detailed paintings; I didn’t have the passion and talent to sit at an easel. The slow production of the painting drove me crazy; therefore, the camera was and is my vehicle to contentment. I have a Pentax 35 mm with different lenses to work with. I was and I am still happy with it and it perform its purpose, taking pictures. I was roaming New York City like a lion roams the jungle looking for prey. I felt free; it was just my kind of thing to do. I enjoyed doing street photography. I disliked flash or any other artificial lighting. As I mentioned before, I tried to catch shadows, if possible deep shadows, and highlights as they occur in New York City’s streets.


I can’t explain exactly what I liked, other than that I photographed to find out what something would look like photographed. It was and still is in me, there was a high, as if I had taken opium; or was a gambler in a casino, waiting for his cards to turn. Looking for the right moment always kept me on the edge, to be ready in a second. When the opportunity was in front of me and my camera, my blood was sizzling, like the sizzling of an espresso machine, my heart was pounding and it felt like it jumped up my throat. I forgot everything that was going on around me; I just concentrated on the object in front of me. Thoughts raced through my mind, what F-stop? What depth of focus do I need? Sometimes, I just picked up my camera and took the pictures, using every F-stop possible and just hoped I would get one image. Looking and searching for the right image is always a challenge. I hoped it would be the right moment, the right moment every time I clicked the shutter button. Still, it is a good idea to prepare for the moment. Being on the street, it helped to measure with the Spot meter the shadow and highlight on house walls, or direct on the walkway, or on cars, wherever I could see the contrast. I felt I was in control of my camera, and I knew how to get a perfect image (almost perfect) with my Pentax camera. Today, I feel that a new digital camera will control me, this small thing of machinery with megapixel, this drives me mad.


Later on, I got a Nikon 35 mm with a removeable motor. It turned out that it was not as practical as I imagined. It was good use for fashion shows, but I didn’t go to many because I refused to be in a crowd of hungry photographers who pushed with their left elbow to be in the center row. I enjoyed taking pictures in the studio, but not as much as I did on the street. In the studio I needed artificial light, a strobe, and a flashlight and perhaps a back drop. To change the mood of the image, I would move the light anywhere. For instance, putting a direct light on the floor in front of the model I could get a perfect image such as in one of  Alfred Hitchcock's movies.