I rarely like pictures of me but that is pretty good
If we had to restage it I'd advise stopping down one more to get the other cheek sharp but......
......if we're bullshitting here........
My perception began as a poet
& I was pretty good
Honed Haiku like images
But then I met her & married her
Taming the Muse killed the poet
(until we split up)
& met someone else
but then I married her
then I met someone else
Tempted to say - imply - etc etc etc
but that has not been the case
But back when the POET died the 1st time, I'd become verbose & was doing a thousand words on Nature
BUT
A PICTURE'S WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS
My 1st theme was close ups of flowers
& Rock Musicians
Fields I ploughed long
My 1st recognition came with an EP cover
& 'Highly Commended' Brighton Festival 1984
A year at BUTLIN'S
My 1st Exhibition was of Blues Musicians: that was in 1990 in Brugge
I participated in some group shows & my next solo Exhibition was of Toned & Hand Coloured Silver Prints
It was called Black & White & Coloured
It was of Nudes
It toured extensively in Belgium for 14 months
I then became interested in some obsolete printing techniques
2 Expos followed
Iron Ladies of Ferro Prints (Cyanotype) 1995
Sutl Mistri (Gum & Ferro Prints) 1996
This formed part of Flanders wide Feminist event called GYNAIKA
I was one of the very few male contributors
There was Expo that aborted in 1997 due to the death of the Curator
It was to be called The Cusp of Time
& should have become permanent
It was around this time that I developed sight problems
In 1999 I took the series of pics that were the backbone of my my next & at this moment last expo
To prove that your fate is your hands I made a trip to Prague late in 1999, where i was introduced to the late Alés Pech by the Czech & Slovak Surrealist Group
We established an instant rapport & he offered my the opening show for 'his' Concordia Gallery
It was called the ARTisan & Other Pictures
I have a portfolio here, but it too is still under construction
http://deebeecooper.daportfolio.com/
If you would like to see a Powerpoint presentation of my last expo email me
I even recall the 1st picture I took
My Parents & my brother at Caswell Bay Nr Swansea
Musta been about 8
Later in my early teens there were Halina 35mm's in the family & some roll film Kodak Brownies, tho plastic bodied rather than boxes: we took pictures of Steam Locomotives, my brother & I: my brother still has some of these pictures
I started (again) in my mid 20's with a Kodak Instamatic 126 that came from Green Shield stamps
Almost immediately knew I wanted something better
Thru the years I have used a variety of MINOLTA cameras
SR5 1976-79: Non metering: I cut my teeth on this camera
SRT101 1979-92 A landrover of a camera: robust & abused: finally a rewind spring in the base went: which I fixed & nursed it a year or so longer: last shots I took with it were of the underwater birth of my 2nd son
XE5 1992-1996 Bought within hours of the birth of my 2nd son: Never fell in love with this camera-despite it having been the top model in it's day, with a Leica shutter: ate batteries & i never felt the metering was accurate as the SRT101
X500 & Jessops Motor Drive: 1996-1999 planned a rather rude series of self potraits with my (ex) wife & needed motor drive & remote release: I kept this after I replaced it & eventually gave it to my eldest son tho he reports a shutter problem with it: gave him the replacement when I went digital
Up to this point I had used 28mm, then 24mm, 50 1.7 & 135 lenses & had used a lens reversing ring for macro
Dynax 501:1999-2005 In my early 50's my eyesight began to fail so i went autofocus: a reliable camera tho in the meantime I was diagnosed as having cataract in both eyes: these have been operated on & removed but did mean I took almost no pictures for 3 or 4 years
This came with a 28-80 Macro Zoom & I added a MF 24mm Ziess Lens
I was vaguely aware that Minolta had stopped making cameras so when I had urgent need of a Digital Camera bought a PANASONIC LUMIX DMC-FZ7 tho once I tried to shoot live music with it knew I needed something better
Konica Minolta D5: bought on Ebay: love it
I have picked up a lot of quite cheap 'Film' lenses recently including 100-300 Macro zoom
I also used a Mamiya M645J from 1984 on: I still have this tho have not used it for many years: about 1999 if my memory is true
In the mid 80's I began to collect some really 'ordinary' cameras
Everyday, man in the street cameras
Some of which I used, tho rarely
But I then had an idea
& as a special project used a ZIESS IKON Nettar 515/2
& an AGFA Isolette 1 for pictures that I incorporated into my 2000 Exhibition The ARTisan in Prague