Photography was one of my hobbies in high school. Long before digital cameras, so we developed our own film and made our own prints. In college I worked in a darkroom for a few years, but didn’t take many photos my self.
In 2000, as blogging began, I jumped in to digital photography and shared photo sets on my original site. Flickr started a few years later and I’ve been a member ever since. But for years nearly all of my photos, like most peoples’ photos, have been cell phone shots.
Cell phone cameras are amazing and get better all the time, but I wanted to get deeper in to the hobby. After spending some time on Wirecutter I decided on their mirrorless choice, the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III (who the hell came up with this name?).
After a day of playing with the camera, I’m loving it. Digital has come so far since my early-2000s cameras. The automatic modes are great, though I’m mostly sticking to manual since that was how I learned to shoot on film. But the word ‘manual’ is disingenuous. The camera still does so much. Auto-focus, auto-display of the expected exposure, automatic display of the camera’s pitch & yaw. It’s not like my grandfather’s Bessa 66 where everything is manual. (note: I love that camera but I think I’ve managed to take exactly 1 good photo with it over the years).
I’m still learning the new camera, and still remembering how to compose as shot so that it’s not terrible. But I’ve managed to get a few shots I like.
