Things I wish I'd done in the past ...

Archiver

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- I wish I had carried a camera more often at school. I had a Kodak disc camera and used it for maybe three discs worth over the course of a year. So I have three sets of photos from when I was 13 and nothing else. I wish I'd had an Olympus XA or XA2 loaded with Fuji 400 or Tri-X in my pocket every day. I wish I'd shot a roll a week. I wish I'd captured the many wonderful things I did at school, like music recitals, production rehearsals, trips and excursions.

- I wish I'd carried a camera through university. With zone focus and relatively fast film it would have been so easy to grab moments with friends, going out to gigs and concerts, rehearsals for friends' bands and the like.

- I wish I'd discovered photographers like HCB, Elliott Erwitt and Andre Kartesz much earlier. I wish someone had shown me work by Mary Ellen Mark and said, 'look at this, now think of how you would do this'. I wish I had known about true candid photography and the decisive moment.

- I wish I'd had a Leica M3 or M6! And decent instruction to go with it! And my own darkroom facilities! Heck, a blocked-off wardrobe would have done!

- I wish I'd studied photography.

- In digital times, I wish I'd discovered the benefits of raw a lot earlier. So many photographs that could be even more enhanced by Photoshop or Lightroom.

Much of my personal photography is based around these retrospective wishes. Every day I shoot something. I experiment with light and composition and timing.

I have a growing collection of photography books, from large glossy hardbacks to softcover instructionals. I draw inspiration from everything that catches my eye. I see in 28mm. I have a GXR sitting next to me right now.

I photographically document the things I do and the places I go, even if they seem mundane. When I'm out with friends they think something is wrong if I don't have a camera in my hands, or don't hear a shutter clicking! At family gatherings I make a point of capturing everything as we have so little of it from before.

I capture the present to be enjoyed in the future, as we look back on the past.
 
Hmmmmm, I wish that I could always remember that there's no time like the present.
Ya know, your wish bucket is what makes you who you are now. That bucket is what flavors what you do now. Without it, you may not be who you are and do what you do now. Remember my friend, now becomes the past in a flash of a second.
Focus on the here and now and you won't add any weight to that bucket. That GXR is waiting, patiently waiting....

You my friend are on it ... with focus...
 
Archiver,

I so enjoyed your Wish List, that I read it to my wife, like poetry. Some of what you wish you had done I did. Most I did not, and like you, missed out. But I just look forward with gladness that I can still at 65 years, do some of what I missed earlier.
 
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