Wednesday, February 3, 2010

It's Always Best to Start at the Beginning



"Once upon a time" begins so many cherished stories. Stories that have a familiar and comfortable predictability about them. A balanced plot line and a tidy resolution. And because of that, "once upon a time" is exactly how I will not start the blog on my photography experience, which has tread its own unique course, far from any art school, dark room, or heavily acronymed convention. I could wait for the elusive right words to kick off this first entry, but just like my decision to dive deeper into my photography without waiting for the perfect moment, it's simply my time to begin sharing my adventure with you!


In the words of one of my childhood heroes, Glinda the Good Witch, “It’s always best to start at the beginning…”. And you can’t argue with a woman waving a glittery wand, and wearing 6,000 yards of pink tulle, so, here goes…welcome to my blog!


To kick off the grand opening ribbon cutting ceremony for my shiny brand new blog, complete with an over-sized pair of imaginary scissors, I thought I would share with you the very beginning of my photography career. It all began at age 8 when my parents bought me a red Kodak point-and-shoot 35 mm camera, complete with a sliding lens cover and a wrist strap. Safety first. My dad, a photo hobbyist, took me out for my first photo shoot around town to try it out. I loaded up one roll of film in that red bad boy and headed out the door!


This is the first photo I ever took, in all of its underexposed un-retouched glory…


…and so began my love affair with freezing moments in time on film. In my photo album, I captioned this one “Dad and the Minivan”. I worked on the wording for days. Between then and now, my dad got a few gray hairs, ditched the beard for a goatee, and upgraded to a Honda Odyssey, and I retired the red Kodak memory maker, moving up eventually to my current Canon digital SLR.


I’m looking forward to sharing my more-accurately-exposed-work, thoughts, moments of brilliance, and progress with you. Even though I literally began my blog with the words “once upon a time”, I hardly expect my story to take that predictable path. It hasn’t yet.


So, here’s to new and unexpected surprises along the journey! Thanks for taking a peek at where it all began.


Aliza

3 comments:

  1. So excited for you, Aliza! You are going to be a GREAT blogger. :-) Looking forward to many wonderful things ahead!

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  2. You are making me cry. I am so happy for you to be doing something you are so passionate about. Your work so far is beautiful and I know you will only get better. There is nothing "hotter" than a handsome man standing by a minivan. Your choice of a first snapshot was inspired!!!

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  3. Congratulations Aliza. I should have known that this was coming when you needed a whole room in your new house for storing thousands of envelopes of photos! Good Luck on your new venture.

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