1981 - Minolta XG-M 35 mm camera
During the summer of 1981 I started to get a yearning to express my creative side by undertaking photography as a hobby, but I had no camera. This was prompted by those visits to Willoughby's when I owned my projector and would drift into the camera department. Talking to a friend of mine at school who had an Olympus 35mm camera and let me borrow it for a few days, I decided to get one. I picked up a few photography magazines, and an ad just hit me for... the Minolta XG-M camera!
It was a brand new model that Minolta was bringing out that year and it looked to have all the features I wanted. I also bought a Minolta book that was a guide to 35 mm photography (I still have it!) and it opened my mind up to the possibilities. I kept reading about the camera and photography in general until I got back to school in September 1981, where I hooked up with my friend with the Olympus again. He was taking a photography class at Hunter, and I would tag along to see what they were learning. I even learned how to print negatives in the school's photography lab which really made me appreciate the entire process.
October 30th was the day I went to Willoughby's and bought the camera - finally I could take all the shots I wanted and create my own album of photos. My initial focus was on my friends at school and my neighborhood, along with shots at home. It wasn't until I started to travel that my eye for "postcard shots" began to develop. The following pictures were taken in Antigua (1983), Bermuda (1987), and Curacao (1992).
I used this camera for over 18 years and I feel that I have taken some amazing pictures over that time with it. It's retired now that I'm using a Canon PowerShot S2 IS digital camera now, but I wouldn't be able to take the great shots I can if not for my first SLR.
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