Returning to the love of photography

Photo taken during a walk, post thunderstorm.

Greetings. I hope you’re well at the time of reading this post. Over the last few months (I forget what prompted me to do so), I’ve been back to using my Nikon D3100 DSLR and have rekindled my love of photography. As I type this, what may have brought me back to it was seeing some photographs on Instagram and remembering the days of using an SLR camera prior to have a phone that can take decent photos (which currently is an iPhone 12 mini). Again, I think these photos I saw were on IG, but despite using the site for music production posts, I highly despise the ads, shopping features, and most the annoying algorithms. I had some recent discussions over the last few months with a long time friend, tech brother, and photo fan, DarrenKeith, about the merits of Flickr over Instagram for photo sharing. The main advantage is no algorithms. In addition, for me, Flickr’s features allow you to see the camera the photo was taken with along with lens type, shutter speed, aperture. EXIF data (if available). Since the camera name is shown, you can click on the camera graphic, and Flickr will show you all other photos on the site taken with the same camera you’ve used. Aside from that, Flickr allows for different ways of categorizing your photos via album and collection. I haven’t used similar photo sharing sites, but what Flickr does, it does well.

What also took me back to the D3100 was actually a few things. First was a user on Bluesky that goes by the name lilyannadream. She was posting photos taken with her Nikon D5600 and they are all very nice. I said to myself that her camera is probably just a few years older than mine (actually 5 years older and with a pixel resolution of 24.2 pixels vs my D3100 from 2010 with 14.2), so let me see what mine can do. Incidentally I just learned that the D5600 is the last DSLR Nikon made and they have been focusing on mirrorless cameras. Secondly, another new user to Bluesky, who gos by PWH3, is a NYC-based photographer who has some really nice shots and mentioned he has shot with a Nikon D700, which was released in July 2008 and is still highly respected in the DSLR world. That said, I again wanted the flexibility of shooting with different focal lengths, shutter speeds, etc instead of having to shoot everything in auto like the iPhone constrains you to do. Secondly, it takes me back to the days of shooting 35mm SLR print film in the 90s with a manual camera, my Minolta XG-7 to be exact. Then you had to understand how film ISO, shutter speed, aperture, and focal length come together to compose a great (or not-so great) photograph. After the XG-7 bit the dust, I purchased a Nikon N60 SLR with two lenses, which I still have. I would like to shoot print film again, but realize that in the end, I’ll be spending anywhere from $2 – $3 a shot, but the good thing is it will take me back to the days I mentioned above. I’ve been looking at places I can get fresh film and get it developed and printed, just in case.

It’s definitely good to be shooting with a DSLR again and doing so makes me want to get back to shooting scenic photos, especially of the urban type. I’ve done some low light indoor shots of my recording studio and will do more. As the summer continues, I’ll really try to visit various events around down, with camera in hand. I’m already thinking about possibilities of such for tomorrow.

Thanks for the read, be well and stay safe.

Fresh