Dad Would Be Proud

I took this photo of a cotoneaster beside an antique cultivator last fall. This is one of several antique farm implements on our property that came from Paul's grandfather's farm. This one sits in a rock garden in our yard. Paul remembers walking behind the cultivator hooked to one of the farm horses and in front of his grandfather. Walking behind a cultivator and a horse? What century was that?

With this photo, last fall, for the first time in my life, I entered a photo competition. I actually entered two contests and won both with the same photo. The real estate company I work with, Residential Properties Ltd., has a photo competition four times a year, one for each season. We have so many fabulous photographers among our agents, I never considered entering a photo until I saw this one. The winning photos are used as part of a slide show on the company's website. Most of the winning photos have always been interesting houses or local scenery. This was a little out of the ordinary but I think they liked it because it was in my yard and had a personal story.

The second contest I entered with this photo was on the blog The Badass Geek . A professional photographer himself, The Geek has a really cool website at Shift Photography, please go visit him. Feeling pretty full of myself after having won the company contest, I figured 'why not?' I entered and won! The Geek actually offered a prize. I was told to choose a photo from his website which he would send matted and ready to frame. I picked a beautiful sunset over water which arrived yesterday.

I started taking pictures when I was eight years old. I don't know what I was using for a camera back then but I remember seeing what looked like 35mm negative strips hanging in our make-shift darkroom. Soon I had my own little 110 Instamatic. I've moved up a little since then. Here's my newest camera.

My father set up a darkroom in the cellar of our house in the early 1960's. And I do mean cellar. Half the floor in the cellar of our early 19th century house was dirt. The photo enlarger was on an old work bench. I use to develop and print black and white photos. There were only three baths necessary to develop black & white and many, many more for color so we only worked in black & white. My father is gone so I can't ask him so my memory of the whole process may be a little fuzzy.

I remember how cool it was to watch pictures of my dog Missey come up from the trays. Notice there's always a dog in my stories? I still have some of those photos. I also remember one day, in my clumsy way, knocking a bottle of a chemical wash over in my mother's kitchen. I watched the cabinets instantly turn white as the stuff splashed across the wood. Fortunately it washed off but for a minute I thought I was in big trouble.

So after starting my photography experience in a dirt cellar 45+ years ago, I still enjoy taking pictures.