2009. Where, exactly, did it go again?

I’m serious, it seems like the last year just blinked past in a hurry, but when I think about it, a lot happened in my photography. 2009 was definitely a crossroads year for that, the year when I started referring to myself as being a “photographer” and actually meaning it. Sure, there have been creative ruts and slumps, but these come with the territory.

I bought a used speedlight (a Pentax AF500FTZ) with Strobist-friendly manual settings and started learning how to light properly. I’m still learning and really need to practice more in 2010. Kelli bought me the David Busch “Quick Snap Guide to Lighting” for Christmas. A pair of good Bogen lightstands and a shoot-through umbrella got added to my gear (more on that in a moment) and as I write there’s a swivel bracket on it’s way from FlashZebra to connect it all together with, enhancing my lighting capabilities quite a bit (there’s only so much you can achieve when your only large light modifier is the nearest wall). 2010 should be the year where I progress from setting up and hoping my lighting will work to knowing how to make it work before I set it up.

Speaking of gear and those lightstands, a good friend at our church got wind of the fact that I’m into photography. He used to shoot weddings and events for friends and had a pro-level Canon FD rig based around the 1984 LA Olympics edition Canon F-1. I say “had” because he gave it to me. Camera, lenses, big Vivitar potato-masher flash, lightstands and an umbrella. The whole 9 yards, minus the umbrella swivel bracket which went MIA at some point in time.

So 2009 was also the year when I started shooting film seriously again, with some serious gear to do it. If you’re reading this, thanks Sky, you are the man, and no mistake!

The computer in the photo is relevant to 2009 as well, not just because it was photographed a couple of months ago using the F-1, but because it’s 25 years this Christmas just past since “Santa” put this example of British technical prowess under the tree for me, meaning I’ve been doing the computer programming thing for a quarter century. Blimey! No wonder I’ve stopped doing programming as a hobby and taken a more serious turn with photography. The Sinclair ZX Spectrum, incidentally, was the best-selling home computer in the UK market during the 8-bit era and started the careers of a huge number of programmers of my generation. Most people this side of the pond have never heard of it.

I finally succumbed to Facebook and Twitter, but don’t post all that much; perhaps 2010 I’ll do better there. Though via Twitter I did reconnect with a friend from back in high school, who is also into photography with a gallery and blog, “Learning To Snap“. I “rebooted” my blog, then stopped after 4 posts. Decided to revert to this photoblog format with short descriptions of each posted photo. Verbose posts like this one will not happen very often, I’ll put them in the “Wordy Posts” category when they do.

I entered the John Faber Memorial photo contest run by the Smith Mountain Arts Council (SMAC). Didn’t win anything, but did get some useful critique from a pro. I’ll be entering this year’s contest and am making my picks soon. Turns out I enjoyed getting critique and should seek it out more often if I’m to improve my technique.

I have a feeling 2010 will be an interesting year for me photographically, if I allow it to be. We’ll see.

Either way, Happy New Year to all!