Cameras are difficult to reassemble
Cameras are difficult to reassemble. That was my the first lesson in photography. My father was an avid photographer, and I was a curious child. In our home, camera gear was everywhere - on shelves, counters, the dining table. One camera, a Hasselblad 500c sat on a stair in our house for most of my childhood. I stepped over it for years, until one day when I was alone and bored. Armed with a screwdriver and butter knife, I thought, "I bet I can take that apart, and put it back together. No problem." I was wrong. The back would never latch again. My father never said anything, but it sat there mocking me, reminding me daily with its back slightly agape, that cameras are mystifying. And I was mystified, but also intrigued. Something that was just an object to step over one day, was next an unsolved puzzle. First, on how it goes back together, but then on how it works.
Rule number one in photography - Cameras are hard to reassemble. Don't do it.
“So called ‘Beauty’ is common place in a world of never-ending photoshop edits, but nuance and meaning are not. ”
My father was a photographer. And as such, cameras have never been mysterious or unknowable, if anything they seemed common place. Cameras were as likely to be in his studio as they were sitting amongst the clutter on the kitchen counter. A venerable Hasseblad, sat on our stairs for years, the door slightly ajar, gathering dust. Enlargers, strobes, and inexplicably complex gadgets were everywhere. Again, these held no mystery. This was my "briar patch."
What does fascinate me about photography, is what fascinates me about life — Beauty. But not plasticized "beauty." This so called "beauty" is common and meaningless in a world of photoshop edits, whereas nuance and meaning are not. I believe there is beauty hidden in all people, animals, everywhere we go. I hope to find it and share it with my friends. Thanks for looking at my pictures.
Walter Sayler
Walter (Sayler) is a graduate of the New York Institute of Photography and currently lives in Portland Oregon. Though Walters interest in photography is mostly of a personal nature, he is available on a limited basis for interesting projects.