I have an extreme love for black and white pictures, but am a long way from being anything more than an average photograper but I would like to propell myself into at least the standing of more than mediocre but have no clue where to start so lets start with a few simple questions: what do you look for when buying a good starter camera and what can I expect to spend ( US Dollars )? Where do you begin to learn about developing your own film and how soon should expect to be able to develop your own pics? what do you need to know about film speed and lighting? Any help that anyone could offer would be greatly appreciated.......Jay

-- Jay Dooley (king_bold@yahoo.com), December 28, 2000

Answers

Jay, Go to the library and check out all the good books on BW photography. Pick one you like and start making photos. The best camera is one you like to use so go pester the camera stores. Handle the cameras, see which ones fit your hand, see which ones are easiest to view the scene (very important if you wear glasses). If you don't have access to a BW darkroom, you can use a color process BW film to get started. Shop the local swap meets and yard sales for used darkroom equipment. Check out ShutterBug and other web sites for equipment. Look at the work of photographers you admire and research everything you can about their technique. Have fun!!!

-- Andy Eads (eads@3-cities.com), December 28, 2000.

Check your local community college for adult education classes. Many have basic photography classes, that include darkroom work. The nice thing is that you normally get use of the darkroom after taking the class.

As for a camera, yo ucan spend as little a $100 for a nice manual camera with 50mm lens. You can spend over $10,000 for a medium format system.

I would suggest a basic manual camera, bought used, to start with. It will do everything you need to learn, and in fact in many ways will be better for learning than a automatic camera. Later as you figure out more what you want and want to do, you can expand it (if you stick wiht the big brands), keep it as a backup, or sell it for about what you paid for it.

Pentax is the traditional low cost manual starter camera. Canon and Nikon also have models that will work.

And books, as already mentioned, are a good place to start. I like books by John Hedgecoe and Michael Langford. Both authors do a good job of explaining stuff for beginners, typically with lots of pictures and drawings.

-- Terry Carraway (TCarraway@compuserve.com), December 29, 2000.

Jay, I think a fine way is to take a basic photo course either through adult education, a college/university, or an arts organization. Of course, if you live somewhere where that is not possible, books, magazines, and the Internet are good choices.

chris

-- Christian Harkness (chris.harkness@eudoramail.com), December 29, 2000.

Nothing will teach you faster than actually doing it. If you can get to a basic photo course, you'll have access to a darkroom and good instruction. If not, find someone locally who will give you a couple lessons- harder and harder to do as B&W darkroom work becomes less popular. Try the local high school- many have a photo club and process yearbook photos. You can certainly get a few books and go it alone (that's what I did about 30 years ago)- progress may be slower, but you'll be figuring things out yourself which has many benefits. Regarding time, everyone is different, but there's no reason that you couldn't be processing film and making decent prints after a few evenings of practice. Photography covers a lot of area, but the basics are pretty easy. As for a camera, you want something basic that presents shutter speed, aperture, and focus without confusion. You may later rely on automation, but learning the fundamentals will allow you to know when to override that automation. You'll probably want a 35mm SLR as it's versatile, common, and film costs are low. Look for something used, but have it checked out to be sure it's working properly. When you're starting out, equipment problems add confusion that a more experienced person would instantly recognize and possibly work around.

-- Conrad Hoffman (choffman@rpa.net), December 29, 2000.

Jay, Check www.freestylecamera.com. They supply schools and colleges with photo supplies. They have everything to get started at reasonable prices. Start with one film, like Arista(Ilford)125 or 400, or Kodak Pus x or Tri x, and stay with that one film until you get results that you are pleased with. You can buy a kit to start developing negatives or look for used equipment. Its very easy and inexpensive to develop negatives. You just need a dark place to load the film onto the spool and put it into a daylight tank and the rest is done in daylight. A good, safe developer to start with is Kodak X-tol. But whatever you start with, stay with it until your results are great. You can make great photographs with any film and developer, but you have to thoroughly know your materials. Let me know if you have any questions. Good luck. Greg

-- Greg Rust (kgeicrust@aol.com), December 29, 2000.

I was at a friend's house for Christmas Eve. She showed me an album she had of pictures from her childhood. They were obviously taken with a box camera, and were probably contact prints.

The composition and generally good quality of the pictures were almost unbelieveable. The best of photographs can come from the simplest of tools.

So, my recommendations are:

1. Get a simple camera. Complexity won't help at all with composition and can hurt because you get concerned about things that aren't all that important.

2. Look at photographs in detail. You own and those of others. Understand what you like & don't like about them.

3. Polaroid is a great way to start because it gives instant feedback. Take a picture, analyze it, then take it again to improve those areas you think need improvement.

4. You learn photography by doing. Reading & studying can help, but only if you are and have done a lot of actual work.

A class is OK, but sometimes the focus is more on the technology than the art. If you learn to see and analyze what you see first, then you can learn the technique and will do it with a purpose. I always learn better if I need to apply is being taught than if it just academic.

My recommendation for starting (if you want a guide book) is Fred Picker's Zone VI Workshop.

-- Charlie Strack (charlie_strack@sti.com), December 29, 2000.