When I was eight years old my mom took me to the Girl Scout counter at the Miller and Paine department store to buy my first camera. It was a Kodak Brownie Scout camera, square and brown. It was a plastic marvel. I took black-and-white photographs of anything I could find that wasn’t moving.
I upgraded to color film with my next camera, an Instamatic, and used that through junior high and high school. I took a big leap when I bought my first “real” camera, a Pentax 35mm. My camera instructor told the photography class to be sure to buy plenty of film. “Film is cheap. It’s better to buy extra film than it is to miss out on the photograph.”
Several years later I decided to upgrade to a digital SLR. This camera has so many bells and whistles that I have never really learned how to use it. It’s a mini computer that takes pictures. So now I find it easier to just pull out my iPhone and use it for that quick Kodak moment.
For the past few weeks I have been cataloging books for the Summer Reading Program. The theme this year is STREAM, focusing on Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Art, and Math. Becky, our Collection Development Librarian, has chosen some new books on photography. A few of the books that caught my eye are Getting Started in Digital Photography by Khara Plicanic, Tom Ang’s Digital Photography Master Class, and iPad and iPhone Digital Photography Tips and Tricks by Jason R. Rich.
Best of all, there is new a book that took me right back to the Girl Scout counter when I was a kid looking at that Kodak Brownie Scout. Build Your Own Pinhole Cameras by Justin Quinnell is just my speed.
I think I’ll make a pinhole camera and earn my Technology sticker for the SRP prize drawing at the end of the summer. Or maybe I’ll take a selfie in front of a bookshelf. I definitely will be entering the PhotoSTREAM photo contest.
Look for details about the Summer Reading Program and the PhotoSTREAM contest on the library’s webpage.