Perhaps I am getting old but I find my attachment to ways of working and tools from the past is becoming a comfort for me. Yes I do like the latest shiny toys and I marvel at all the things which can be done using new software, but then again it just seems to lack the challenge and craft of the ways I was used to.
My hobby has been to go out and take photographs since I was a child. My brother would process my earliest films and make prints for me and I would always be amazed by the magic of that whole process. In more recent years I switched from film to digital but there was always a plan to digitise my old photos using a scanner. All of this is so much more convenient than having to set up a darkroom. I could still see my old film photos this way without the mess of film processing and printing. The biggest benefit was that it combined my interest in photography with my fascination for computers.
So today I still take photos on film cameras, and I do use digital ones as well. I have tried the latest mirror-less system cameras but somehow I prefer the older DSLRs which behave much more like my film cameras. People have given me cameras, often grateful that someone will take them off of their hands. So the collection has grown and now I should find a reason to use them as it would be a shame if they stayed in a cupboard.
There is a strong connection too with my approach to computers. Over the years I have had many of these and have, at times, built my own from parts. After leaving University my first full-time job was as a computer programmer working with imaging devices, something quite rare and at the very edge of technology back then. I have tried the latest models from Apple and there is no doubt they are fast and can do the everyday tasks with ease. Photo cataloguing and editing solutions such as Lightroom have proved very easy to use. Somehow though I feel that by using these systems I am signing away my soul in the form of subscriptions and payment plans. My old computer was a bit of a beast all-round but has reached a point where it will no longer be supported by the latest operating systems and software. But there is one exception and that is Linux.
I have installed Linux Mint on my computer but that also forces a change in the software I use for photography. The nearest equivalents to Lightroom now are Digikam and Darktable and I have found I can edit my RAW photos perfectly well using this free software. My scanners work with Vuescan and the resulting scans can be retouched in GIMP. Photobooks could be a bit more of a challenge but I think it might be possible to lay them out using Scribus so that I can send them away for printing.
Old cameras and an old computer are the basis for my new hobby. Yes I am taking a rose-tinted view of the past here but I think it will be fun to explore. As I go I hope to tell the story of how I am learning to work with these tools to produce photographs for sharing with family, friends and maybe with the wider world as well.
Rosetinted 