The Cameras (and cameramen) In My Life

Cameras have been part of my life since the day I was born. Abah was an avid photographer and the loads of albums in our house proved this. Our baby pictures were not the typical b & w baby-on-the-studio-table ones. It would be baby on the car boot. Baby in the pram. Baby bare all... My favourites were the pictures of me taking my first steps - taken like a professional.

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When Kodak introduced colour films, Abah became shutter-crazy. Everything had to be recorded in colour. Suffice to say our growing-up years were well-documented. Didn't remember the brand of his SLR camera, but it was his prized possession.

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My first camera was a Konica autofocus which I got for doing well in the Penilaian Darjah 5. Bought it in Sungai Wang Plaza for about 200 Ringgit. Why Konica? Well, I was this excited 12-year-old who couldn't wait to embark on a "shooting" rampage. Anything goes. Anyway, I recalled that the pix taken with the Konica were not bad at all. Used the camera for more than 10 years. Around this time, abah had upgraded to a Canon AE 1 SLR which he bought while studying in the U.S. Abah also upgraded his skills by taking a photography course while he was in university. When I was 15, abah would let me use his camera occasionally. He taught me some basic things like shutter speed, aperture, lighting, etc., and I experimented.

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At 16, I saw how photos were processed in the dark room -courtesy of my boyfriend who was the school's first Photography Club President (he! he!). This shutter-bug never left home without his Nikon FE 2 SLR. I still remembered the impressive macro shot of a hydrangea that he gave me. He showed me how filters were used to create photo effects. He was also kind enough to lend me his camera...once (orang sayang camera. he! he!). The second Club President was also a boyfriend. And to top it all, 10 years later I married another Photography Club President (from another school). Talk about co-incidences!

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In the 90's, hubby and I bought the Canon EOS 888 so that we could take pictures of our first-born. We were satisfied with the photos taken with the camera but three children later, the SLR proved to be a handful (what with the baby bag, stroller not to mention the babies...). With the advent of technology in the new millenium, we had to go for a digital. Hubby wanted to buy the Nikon D60 DSLR but I wanted a compact digital.

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Sometime last year, I bought the Ricoh Caplio RR730. Why the Caplio? It's value for money and slim. It has it's strong and weak points but for an amateur photographer like me...bolehlah. I plan to upgrade to a Nikon Coolpix which has an anti-shake AE device. That would be useful when shooting macro. But for the time being, I'll just play around with my Caplio.