Bitten By the Photography Bug

I love to tell stories, and the camera is my tool of choice. I first picked up a camera when my parents took me to the first Original Tommy’s Burgers stand in Los Angeles when I was about nine years old. I remember being bored, and being a nuisance to my dad while waiting in a long line place our order. He realized it was going to be some time before we got to the front of the line, so he handed me a Kodak Instamatic 100 and told me to take some pictures. Now, armed with a camera, what to take? I found a dandelion growing between the cracks in the pavement close to where we were standing in line, got on my hands and knees and snapped off the entire roll. Oddly, I can’t remember the burger we had that afternoon, I’m sure I enjoyed it because to this day I love me a good Original Tommy’s burger.

We later dropped off the film at a Fotomat to have it processed and printed, and picked them up a few days later. By today’s standards, the wait time should have been agonizing, but I had a few things in my favor. I was a kid, doing kid things for one, and two, no one had a clue where camera technology would be some 40 odd years later.

I am certain those pictures are somewhere amongst my parent’s boxes of prints in an attic somewhere. Holding those first images in my hands was like magic to me, and I was easily able to recall the emotions going through my head when I held that camera, happily snapping away, and also the disappointment I felt when I got to the end of the roll…I wanted more.

My connection with photography runs deep, and I have learned to tell stories with it, honing my skills to this day.