A few days ago my mom and I were catching up on the phone. I told her about getting involved with the Bronx Documentary Center and having seven of my photos included in their recent pop-up show. She was proud, of course, and mentioned how amazing it is that I got started with a little Kodak point-and-shoot camera when I was six or seven years old.
I still have the negatives and prints from every roll I ever shot going back to when I was six or seven years old. Back then I depended on my parents to buy my film and flash cubes (remember those?) and get my film developed. I didn’t have any formal training or guidance from a family member or friend. But I had an eye and a lot of encouragement from family and friends that propelled me to keep shooting. I wasn’t even aware of any of the technical details of photography. I just knew I liked shooting people, preferably unposed. That hasn’t changed all that much in the past 43 years.
I am incredibly fortunate to have been born to parents who nurtured my creativity emotionally and financially as best as they knew how. These days I have a lot more technical knowledge and take care of procuring my own equipment and processing my own photos in software. (I send out the occasional roll for processing, but this week I hope to try my hand at developing black and white film for the first time!) Photography is a passion I can barely remember not having. It’s enriched my life in many ways and helped me spread joy to other people as well. I’m thankful.