My love for seeing the world through a lens was passed down to me by my father. He shared his passion for that world by capturing the fleeting moments of life and the enduring landscapes that have stood for millennia.
I don’t recall what the subject was of my first press of the shutter, but it was momentous. A 13 year old, armed with rolls of Tri-X film and a GAF L-17 on a bike with a banana seat... was set loose to explore and create images that would awe, inspire and humour those that dared to offer the time to look at my collection.
As I became more comfortable with my eye, I wanted more control over the creative process. My father once again, indulging his only son, built a darkroom. The money I scraped together from part time jobs went into all my equipment that allowed me to load and develop my own bulk film, enlarge black & white, color prints and slides. It was a room that I frequented often. As a teenager I received various assignments from school projects to grad photos and weddings. I was never separated from my Pentax LX. I read photography magazines, took correspondence courses and took chances on images that made me gush with satisfaction and shake my head with disappointment. From that, we learn.
Today I am an avid vintage camera gear collector, landscape, nature, architectural and abstract photographer, however I don’t just confine my subjects to a few categories. As any photographer will attest to, beauty and art can be found in the most unlikely places.
My journey has come full circle, blending the nostalgia of analogue film with digital pixels. Although the wet darkroom I once called home is now a distant memory, the Mac has taken over that duty.
Whether I'm shooting with my vintage Rolleiflex TLR, Nikon F4 or a Nikon digital, I still get a thrill when the shutter trips and the image appears in print or on screen.
Get on your bike and shoot something.
Rod Sterling joined Pixels on January 30th, 2013.
