An Introduction

So who am I and why am I writing a column about photography? Two good questions, particularly the second.

First off, I am not a professional photographer, nor do I consider myself an expert amateur photographer. I am just a guy who takes pictures, and has picked up a few things over the years.

My intention here is to share a little bit about myself, my journey into photography and dispense some basic advice about the art.

If you are a photographer and pick up a mistake I’ve made or can add something to the conversation, feel free to drop me a quick note.

I am a writer by training, having received a degree in journalism from my beloved Penn State a few years back. I was always interested in the idea of photography but never really took it up on any serious level until after graduating and taking a job with a small newspaper in West Virginia. Can’t even remember if I ever had a simple point-and-shoot.

Part of my duties as a reporter was to take photographs, and I was issued a Yashika twin-reflex, medium format camera. A twin-reflex camera is one you dangle from your neck and look down into the viewfinder. Most of the photos were simple: people receiving awards, groups of people receiving awards, etc.

Action shots not so much. That would be left to our two professional photographers.

After some very basic instruction, I was on my own. I would pester our photographers to learn more, eventually getting into the darkroom (yes darkroom, enlarger, film, chemicals, paper) and watched them make prints. Eventually, I learned how to develop film and make my own prints.

West Virginia Penitentiary inmate Ron Williams as he left the prison on his way to stand trial for murder in Arizona during the 1980s. I shot this photo while working as a reporter/photographer at a newspaper in West Virginia. I probably made the print as well.

One important lesson: what you shoot with your camera is only the beginning. Processing what you shoot is at least half the art. That stands true whether you’re using film and an enlarger or a program or app on your phone or computer.

I enjoyed the work so much that I invested a week’s pay into buying a camera of my own. Then some lenses, more sophisticated bodies and a bunch of accessories. I eventually bought my own darkroom equipment and set it up a lab in the basement of my house.

Other than taking an occasional photo or two, my career as a “photojournalist” ended when I headed south to Florida for a job with a regional business newspaper. My interest in photography waned and my cameras mainly gathered dust.

The advent of digital photography renewed my interest — no darkroom necessary. I invested in a camera and would take it along on walks at Green Cay Nature Center and Wakodahatchee, shooting birds, alligators, whatever came by. It was limited and slow, and for my birthday, my wife bought me my first digital single lens reflex camera, or DSLR. It was an entry level Nikon but light years ahead of what I was using previously.

I continued shooting on our walks, but my photos just sat in my computer unseen by anyone other than my wife. In the spring of 2013, the idea of Wild South Florida popped into my head as a place where I could display my photos. The site evolved over the years but one idea I had was this: a column where I could share some of what I’ve learned over the years. Camera Corner I called it.

I never really acted on it because one thing that I found out doing Wild South Florida was that I wasn’t all that good at photography. Things change. I’ve learned a few things, not enough to consider myself an expert but enough pass on a few things.

This will be an occasional series, meaning there’s no set schedule for releasing new columns and no set number of columns.

Some of the topics we’ll cover here include equipment, technique, camera basics, nature photography basics, nature photography ethics and more.

Hopefully, you’ll learn a few things and so will I.

— David Sedore