The village of Wilhelm Burger, near Yokohama, Japan, in 1869.  This photograph was taken by Wilhelm Burger, who was attached to the Austro-Hungarian diplomatic mission which travelled to the Far East to develop commercial relations

 

 

 

I am learning how to use film and old and very old cameras, I have had some of my friends grin and ask "why would you want to shoot with film?" well its photos like this and realizing the skill involved to get it, and the anticipation of having to wait to develop it in a dark room. plus as expensive as the film was then, is as rare to get now, so you don't take 20 shots baby. You meter your light and shutter and f-stop to the T before your light changes. PRAY shoot and wait for your prize. These where photographers folks. I see a lot of people throwing around the title photographer these days. I think we should be honest and call our selves photography enthusiast (oh yes i'm talking about myself). I believe when you are a professional in anything you should know the history of your profession. The history of photography is the second most amazing progression i've studied. (and i'm a studier of the Bible and Medicine) 

 

I love how it can reveal the truth and or hide the truth to the same degree. I love how it stops time, while allowing a moment to live on forever. Literally transcending time. When i look at my beautiful wedding photo hanging proudly on my living room wall, and i see in black and white my husband lifting me up and spinning me around, we are looking at each other and smiling. I forget its been 8 years, 5 years of infertility, 2 years of no sleep since we adopted. Thirty pounds have come and gone and come back. Moving from Texas to Illinois. Times when money was abundant, mostly times money has been short............. All that fades and i go to bed remembering Jimmy asking me and me saying yes, our beautiful wedding and how he looked at me when I recited, "your people shall be my people" and he recited he would love me the way Christ loves the church............ Then I am shocked when look in the mirror, I really was transported back in time, but for a brief moment.

 

Yep! all that from the photo that hangs on my wall. Photography, it is not to be taken lightly. Photography enthusiast, study know what it is to be a photographer. Know what it was to be a photographer before the digital age. I think in that way we can learn from our past to be better photographers today. Think about how when you take a photo today with your tap and snap cool little camera, sometime they still don't turn out how you wanted or intended. Now think about 140 years ago capturing a photo like this, and you had to make the calculations in your head for exposure time and how big a hole to use on the front of your wooden box. Then you better get your chemicals right. Plus have had the money to buy the nickel that makes the developing image possible. We don't have to make those calculations these days, but what happens when we put that much thought in to our images? Well, like I said our photos transcend time. 

 

This is just my humble opinion.