wanzewurld

Member Since: April 11, 2005

  • Location

    Columbia, MS

  • Biography

       I’m an old-time shutterbug loving the new digital age.  So far I'm using a Canon A40 and keeping my eyes open for the next step up.  Everything's moving so fast I'm waiting to get the best bang fer me buck.
       An addendum to this seriously dated, skimpy Bio:  I ran across a brand-new Canon A-520 for $99 at an Office Depot clearance and, knowing next to nothing about it sprung for it.  It immediately blew my socks off!!! At 4 megapixels, which was all I really looked at to replace the 2 megapixel A40 I figured I'd get a photo quality boost from cropping and such but all the other features in the camera were absolutely amazing. I mostly shoot using the viewfinder to steady the camera and I was hand-holding 2 second low-light exposures and getting a sharpness that was not to be believed.
       Then last Christmas when the family asked me what I wanted.  I'd done my research and immediately asked for the Canon S3 IS.  I got it a little early and was equally amazed again by the quantum leap in quality and features.  These Canon digitals are the first Canon cameras I've ever owned.  They make great photos and are the easiest to hand-hold I've ever experienced.  I tell anyone who asks me what type of digital to get that it's hard to go wrong with a Canon.
       And a further update: Here it is about 14 months later and I'm still loving the S3-IS while toting the old A-520 as a "Quickie-Cam".  I gave the old A-40 to my 86-year old mother and she's taken a few shots although she's really just now getting her feet wet... Mostly scenics outside her own house but I've talked her into dropping it into her purse and shooting whenever the spirit moves her.  I've since acquired a Kodak ZD-710 but it leaves me a bit cold.  I've got a granddaughter coming up about 14 years old and wanting to get serious so that will probably be the Kodak's next home.  I'm fearful in a way that the garish colors and lack of good image stabilization may sour her but she can't kick about the price.

    Update again. April 14 2008
       This is turning into more of a blog than a biography!  I've got some issues with my eyesight like 20/100 left eye and 200/20 right eye with pretty bad astigmatism in both eyes  rotated -40 degrees in left, +60 right. That might not mean much to laypeople but it translates into pretty bad eyesight. I got glasses in the first grade and can vaguely remember being astounded by what I was missing!
       Well, I just got fitted with contact lens about 2 months ago after wondering for a few years if they would work on me... They work, and then some!  I'm sharing my joy with the world because I'm seeing detail and colors (of all things!) more clearly than I ever thought possible. Additionally after experimenting with "bifocal" or toric lens I finally opted to try single vision lens and use reading glasses when necessary.  I got the single vision lens and discovered I didn't need the additional magnification. That's pretty astonishing considering I'm approaching 62 years old.  It seems to have changed my perspective through the camera lens as well although whether for the better or worse remains to be seen.
       I wish I could express my newfound vision improvement with photos and that's my next and continuing project.

  • Artist's Statement


    I'm a WW II baby boomer so I've been around quite a while.  I tend to shoot experimental and abstract stuff at this point in my life because I could never afford to do it with 35 mm and I'm color blind so I lack a lot of the aesthetic self-judgement required to gauge color saturation and blend/contrast combinations.  I've thought about just going balck and white but I've got just enough bulldog in me to keep plugging!
       Bear with me folks: I'm getting there and it's only taken me 40 years of photography to get here!  Who knows what the next 40 years will get me!

    "You get what you INSPECT: Not what you EXPECT!" Donald Lutken (CEO Entergy Inc. 1979 - 1987)

    "Good ain't ferever and bad ain't fer good" Jimmy Dean

    "Life is like a dog sled team: If you ain't the lead dog the scenery don't change much" Unknown but copied from a poster.

       (Autographs $1.00 - get 'em now before I get famous)

  • Camera Equipment

    Canon A40
    Canon A520
    Canon S3 IS
    Kodak ZD-710
    Pentax Super Program
    and quite a few other old things that all still work well

  • Favorite Photographers

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