The Past is the Future

"You can go home again if you never, never really leave."*

That is a line from a song I wrote and recorded almost ten years ago. The song is called, "Chattanooga Boy," and it is a track from my album, Autumn Sky, which was released in 2009 and [shameless plug] is available from CD Baby and all your favorite music download services. The song is about my hometown, but I have been thinking a lot lately about the line I quoted, about going home again. If you never really leave, that is.

I am a musician and music teacher by trade. I didn't choose music; it chose me. It's the only thing I do well. But the only other thing in my life that I consistently have wanted to be better at is photography.  And lately, I've decided that, no matter how little talent I may have, I am going to get better at photography and, more importantly, enjoy the journey.

A journey home - back to film.

I grew up with film photography, except we just called it "photography" then (“we,” as in my twin brother and I. More about him later.) Like some of you, we grew up with a favorite uncle who brought much fun and excitement into our lives. His name was Aston Jones, but everyone

Uncle Jonesy and my brother, Kelley. Taken by me!

called him "Jonesy, and it was unusual to not see a camera hanging from his neck.

His first camera was an Argus Autronic rangefinder, which he acquired in 1960. He used it until the film advance broke sometime in the 1970's, after which he bought a brand new Minolta SRT-202 slr. He loved to take photographs, and the fact that we loved looking at them pleased him a great deal, I think. He shot color slide film exclusively, and because he lived only a few blocks from my house, we visited him often and always were treated to slide shows with bright, vivid, and sometimes exotic images on Kodachrome film. Life was good.

It was destined, it seemed that someday I would own a quality film camera and shoot Kodachrome. And that is exactly what I did. The very day I got my first paycheck from my first year teaching job, my brother and I drove to Peachtree Camera in downtown Atlanta and each bought a Minolta XG-1. As the years went by, I got married, had children, and captured our family history on film. In my office closet are hundreds of Kodachromes, some of which I am quite proud.

Now, if you have read this far, you probably know what happened next. Digital. As time passed, my film camera saw less and less use, while I amazed a "collection" of digital files, mostly of my family. I cherish those photos, and thanks to the technology, I could share them in ways unimaginable before. However, I hated the way my digital point and shoot camera behaved (shutter lag, lack of decent zoom, useless for action shots, etc.) Maybe it was my lack of talent and/or knowledge. And all the while my really nice film cameras stayed hidden away in the closet, waiting to be useful again.

And then, a year ago, it happened. I went back to film. Out came my Nikons and my treasure:  Uncle Jonesy's Minolta SRT-202. In the last twelve months, I've shot dozens of rolls, added some cameras, learned a lot, and most important of all, had LOTS of fun. And so, the purpose of this blog is to share what I have done, used, learned, and enjoyed since coming back home to film. If you are either on this same journey or thinking of doing so, then I hope I can be of some help. I certainly had some crucial help in the last year, and besides, sharing is fun.

In my next post, I will explain the very practical reason why I began shooting film again. In the meantime, here is your first assignment:  Find a camera.