Topper. 2020
My first camera was a Canon AE-1.
My second camera was a Nikon D40 with the kit lens. (Man, I loved that camera). This was back in 2006.
Then a Olympus Epic Stylus.
Then a couple of iPhones the 3GS, iPhone 7.
Then a Canon SL2 with a 50mm.
And now, I own the Sony RX100 Mach7 and the iPhone MaxPro.
Through all the SLR and DSLR one thing eluded me: manual focus.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not any kind of photography snob. Trust me, I don’t have any right to be a snob about much in my life, much less how people shoot. But I always equated knowing how to expose a proper image in manual with having the camera.
And sure, there’s always Auto, but hell, if I was going to shoot Auto, might as well, save myself the hassle and buy a smartphone. (I did for years). At least I could surf the web and use a myriad of Apps.
And sure, I learn to use Program Mode or Aperture Priority or Shutter Priority. Those are all valid functions. But if I could use manual, I know enough to be call myself a proper photographer.
For a long while, I’d walk into Best Buy at random times and pick up a camera, put on manual and take a picture. I’d read various photography books, watched tutorials, bought New York Photography School material.
And nothing. Complete black. Or the picture came out blurry. After a good twenty some odd years of dabbling in photography the mystery of manual befuddled me. It was my white whale.
Then, a couple of days ago, I watched this video by Sean Tucker.
And for some reason, everything just clicked. No pun intended.
Topper was the first picture I shot in manual mode that didn’t come out completely dark. Or blurry.
I looked at the shot in the back of the camera and thought: I could do something with this shot.
It was, as they say, a watershed moment for me.
I finally got manual.
Now, if I could get the damn camera to focus in manual.