A Change Is Gonna Come

Last night probably defined the course of the rest of my photographic career, to put it dramatically. I responded to a Craigslist ad over the weekend for a collection of Nikon photography equipment. It included a camera body, seven lenses, tons of filters, and so much more. For the price they were asking for, I knew I couldn't pass it up- it was literally a once-in-a-lifetime thing.

So, yesterday after work Mark and I drove to South Hadley to take a look at the equipment. Nervously, we knocked on the door and waited. No response. ...Knocked again. Waited. Finally, an older woman came to the door and introduced herself as Pam. She seemed very sweet, and she led us through her kitchen and into her dining room where she had the equipment all laid out on the table. Going into it, we had no idea where the equipment was from and why she was selling it. Turns out she used to be a professional photographer, and just hasn't been able to keep up the hobby lately. She was looking to give her collection to someone who would take good care of it and who would get as much out of it as she did. After looking all the equipment over, asking a few questions and getting a good sense of Pam's real passion for photography, I decided that it was something I had to do. I bit the bullet, and I don't regret it for one second.

Coming home, I was grinning from ear to ear. It didn't stop once I got home and took the lenses out, mounting them on my Nikon d5000 and shooting a few test shots to get an initial feel for each lens. (The good thing about the Nikon d5000 is that it's backwards-compatible- any Nikon-mounting lens will mount on its body, with just one catch- you have to use it in Manual mode because there's no metering and the other settings don't recognize older lenses. That's fine with me- it really gives me a chance to get to know my camera and to learn about photography.) In a matter of an hour or two, my lens collection went from 3 to 10. You know how much I love pictures of lenses, so here's the new lineup!






Nikkor-UD 20mm f1:3.5


Nikkor-Q 135mm f1:2.8


Nikkor-N 28mm f1:2


Nikkor-O 35mm f1:2


Vivitar Series 1 Macro-Focusing 28-90mm f1:2.8-3.5


Vivitar Series 1 Macro-Focusing Auto Zoom 70-210mm f1:3.5


Micro-Nikkor-P 55mm f1:3.5

*phew*

That's the new line-up, but it's not all I got-


Nikon F2 Photomic Body


A variety of 52mm filters


Tons of gel filters


...More filters??

A couple flashes, threaded cable release, and a lot of other stuff that I don't know much about yet. I've got the itemized list of everything, I'll have to do some research to figure out exactly what does what.

What's even more fulfilling than getting all of this is the experience itself. To tell Pam how grateful I was I shot her a thank you e-mail today. This is what I got back:


Hi Laura! Thank you so much for your note. It was such a pleasure to meet
you.

I waited to pass this equipment on because I new that the day I received
this camera, I was given a challenge to explore and share how I viewed the
world. That is a very unique experience. There is so much to discover, and
to this day, I am so grateful and so lucky that this opportunity knocked on
my door.

I wanted it to go to a person that could experience the thrill I felt taking
that journey. After meeting you, I knew the universe came knocking again.

The world will continue to evolve, but with the click of the shutter, time
will stand still. Now I'm the one smiling from ear to ear, anyone have a
camera? :)

Pam


I'll admit, I got a little teary-eyed when I read it. Call me cheesy, but I'm pretty sure this is the beginning of something new and amazing. I'll read this later and roll my eyes, but I don't care.

Up next: posts about each lens. I've spent some time today with the Nikkor-N 28mm and the Micro-Nikkor-P 55mm, and I'm really impressed. This post is long enough, so I'll wait to talk more about those in my next one.

The housemates are stoking up a small fire for s'mores, which I can't pass up. 'Night!