Fifteen Years! (File 0001)

Fifteen years ago today, on March 12, 2001, I took my first photograph with a digital camera.  It was an Olympus 3040Z pocket size digital camera with an amazing 4 megapixels of image quality.  At the time, it was simply amazing.  It made photography magical again.

It also marked the beginning of my second phase of photography.  I can remember my interest in cameras at a young age and looking back at old high school yearbooks I see evidence that photography was a major interest of mine.  But then college came, and then work, my wonderful wife and kids, responsibilities, and other interests.  And I forgot about photography.  That is until I learned about this new technology of image sensors and megapixels.

After fifteen years, much practice, many trips in the field to photograph, lots of reading, and too much money spent on equipment - my enjoyment of photography is stronger than ever.  Looking at the photograph today makes me cringe a little - it's just a picture of a pine cone.  The composition is poor and about the only thing it communicates is the idea that I like the outdoors.  I feel my photography is much better today than it was back then.  Years ago, I photographed "things" that caught my interest.  Now I try to photograph "ideas" or "visual feelings" that I want to share with people.  I'm not always successful - the lure of photographing a beautiful sunset and sharing it with friends and family is strong.  But that is the fun of photography!