I used to watch my step father make 4 x 5 proofs on a hand made contract printer in our kitchen. In 1967 he got stationed in Japan (hummmmmmmmm, the land of cameras) and one Christmas gave me his 1950's Aires rangefinder 35mm camera and 20 rolls of Tri-x film.
I used to go to the base hobby shop to learn how to develop and print my film. During the summer months I worked at the Pacific Stars & Stripes newspaper in downtown Tokyo making prints for the military photojournalist. After graduating from high school I worked there fulltime and pretty soon they let me wander around Tokyo taking feature shots and then they started to send me out on assignments, mostly covering high school sporting events.
In 1970 I purchased a Canon F-1, with a 35mm, 135mm and 300mm lenses. Seems like other month I'd purchase another piece of camera gear and by the time we departed Japan in 1972, I gained enough experience and had so much gear that I decided to become a photojournalist. The rest is history.
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