[kirbinster]

A chose forever, but there are some qualifiers. I started with an old 35mm camera that my dad gave me when I was about 10 years old. Not an slr, just a rangefinder. I had to guess at the speed and aperature as I did not have a light meter. I took it to summer camp and enjoyed playing in the darkroom. Unlike today with supervision, my bunk councelor was incharge of the darkroom and let me use it unsupervised at night - this was back in the late 1960's About 3 years later my parents bought me my own darkroom equipment and a slightly better camera and got me a lightmeter. All my work was black and white.

I bought a nice 35mm slr in 1982, a Canon A1. I used that for many years having the standard 50mm lens and a 70-210 macro zoom lens. Then kids came and I mostly gave up the still camera for a big VHS camcorder.

When digital cameras first came out I bought an Olympus 1.3mp camera - thought it was great to not have to buy film. Out grew that and got a 3mp Kodak P&S, and then a couple of years ago gave it to my daughter and got a 5mp Kodak P&S. Always wanted a good dslr but the prices were crazy and they were not that great in terms of quality.

In June I went to see a friend who had just gotten a D40 and thought it was great. Two days later I bought one. Since then I have taken over 13,000 pictures - don't leave the house without the camera anymore. A week or two ago I picked up a D80 to go with it.

So, I guess we could say I have been semi-serious for 30+ years.

I guess I got busy in high school and stopped taking pictures for quite a while.