This site is dedicated to my first passion: photography. The first camera I had ever held was a Minolta SLR when I was just over 4 years old (1990?)...I believe I broke that camera not too many years afterwards, but the passion and thirst for the control that one has in capturing a scene from one's own perspective and thus forcing others to see it from said perspectiv
e grew from there. During the hiatus from SLR cameras, I kept myself mildly entertained and sated with consumer Nikon film cameras (I think we owned one for a number of years --at least well into the 90's).
While photography took a backburner, my love for music and instruments grew. And thus, the decade of musical experimentation began for me starting first with the recorder. I hated that blasted instrument. The violin was next (and continued for a number of years), followed abruptly by the alto-saxophone through the duration of my middle school years. In high school I began playing the trumpets, only after losing interest playing drums (and only because there was one drum set and we had to take turns), and quickly fell in love with the trumpet.
At about the age of 16 I lost interest in playing instruments and began to develop a fond admiration for the skills required to snorkel and scuba dive, and the surreal tranquility afforded by immersion in an underwater seascape. Living in Toronto made the investment in scuba gear a poor decision in hindsight...but then again, hindsight is 20/20.
Now, having just finished my second year at university I have come full circle and am reunited with my first love: photography. It's been just about over
a week since I purchased my first DSLR camera with help from very kind advisors (TP and Bill Pardy have been pivotal in all of this). I purchased my Nikon D80 after much rumination in an effort to insure it was not simply another impulse buy --I'm a materialist whore sometimes. But given that this obsession to purchase a DSLR began during the first few months of my freshman year and lasted over a year, I believe it was not another whimsical desire on my part.
With the D80 I purchased an 18-135mm Nikkor lens to better cover a wide range of functions
(given it's telephoto capabilities). This lens is rather versatile and provides well as a starter lens for any new photographer (..."new photographer" is too much of a misnomer in this regard, so from here on in I will use "prosumer" to better encapsulate the capacity of photographers such as myself who are not making a living on photography, but are still producing/striving to produce professional-grade photographs).
Along with the D80 and the Nikkor, I purchased a much yearned for Crumpler bag!!! This is by far the keystone to my photography arch. It allows me the functionality of a bag that easily stores a DSLR, 15" notebook, textbooks for school, and even a tripod! More importantly, it does this ergonomically and with a blazé style that (if you know me) is all to too critical in everything from my attire to my attitude. It is truly my backpack-Volkswagen --unique, tasteful, and sophisticated...not to mention quirky/fun!
To balance the good with the bad this month, Maroon 5's new album and the LP album were so
utterly disappointing I shed tears of sorrow...Anyway, enough of this life story (it's much to late to continue writing). The following are pictures I took during my first week of photography and are all my vain attempts to experiment and "hone my skills" with the 18-135mm.
Breezy,
-h
All pictures are property of Habib Ahmadzai and of Prime Photography and cannot be redistributed or used without authorization by owners of the images contained on this webpage Copyright © 2007.
while moving around the city in the van, about a dozen or so were even worth uploading onto my computer! Of the one's I am going to post up, there isn't much more to say about how I took them other than at varying zoom lenses. The entire thing was shot in manual (except for the focus which had to be set on continuous servo (?) because the car was in constant motion, and all of them through either the front windshield or the side. I really wanted to bracket the series of stills I'm uploading with text --because it does look better, but I don't have much else to say about my experience that day. One point that I would like to note is that I was consciously attempting to adhere
to the Rule of Thirds, The Golden Rule, and Rule of Drawing Lines (?) to compose some of the shots where possible.
