Cameras Past and Present: Nikon F55

 Although my Casio digital camera was convenient and I used it to make many photos, when it died I had no desire to get another digital camera. Too expensive at the time, for one thing. I was working part-time at the Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation and started to become interested in photography as a hobby. I didn't know anything about cameras so I asked our show's camera operator some questions about what kind of camera I should buy. He recommended I visit the shop used by MBC to buy their equipment and he rang up the owner to tell them I was coming.

When I got to the shop, I introduced myself and told the owner I was looking for a Nikon SLR and I had a budget of 500,000 Won. He took an F55 kit down off the shelf and said it would be suitable. I handed over my 500,000 Won and got a little change back.

The camera wasn't cheap, but I felt like a professional! It had modes! It had manual controls! It was large! Compared to a point and shoot, anyway. It was plastic-fantastic but it was silver and shiny and had a nice 28-80 zoom lens. 

2002? 2003? Still one of my best selfies, I think.

I made lots and lots of pictures with this camera and lens and later bought a cheap 70-300 zoom to expand my kit. Most of the pictures I made were terrible and have long disappeared. but I can think of a few that weren't too bad that I can't find now. One was of students running towards me on my school's sports day. Maybe it's hiding on my hard drive somewhere with some random file name and no metadata.

Here are a few photos that I made with the camera:

The camera operator who helped me buy my first proper camera.

A friend of mine took this picture of me with the F55 and 70-300 lens hanging around my neck.

That friend with his Leica M7

Accompanied by my missus and his missus

My landlady's granddaughters.

My landlady's dog

A picnic with a class of adult learners.

This interesting fellow showed up at my school one day day and was explaining to anyone he saw in the schoolyard that he was an inventor but the government and large companies were stealing his ideas.

I was happy enough with the F55 for a couple of years but decided that I needed more advanced features like spot metering. And it was about that time that Nikon released the D70 digital camera. So I bought myself one of those and never/rarely used the F55 after. I can't remember what I did with that camera. Oh, yes I can. I started working at a university a year or so later and donated it to the school's film camera club.

But I didn't give up film! Soon after buying the D70 I got myself another film camera. More later . . .

Satay Cooking in Chinatown, Kuala Lumpur

 

Kuala Lumpur, 2009

This satay seller is something of a local attraction. Taped to a sign was a newspaper article about him. This older gentleman worked with dignity and the food was delicious.

West Meets East

 

Kuala Lumpur, 2009.

My original intention was to make a photo of this old building, but I was delighted when this west-meets-east situation happened.

Twigs in Snow

 

Gangneung, 2006.

On an early morning outing with my large photo class I found a small spot of undisturbed calm and solitude.

I'm not feeling very inspired these days and photos are piling up without purpose, so I am working on my portfolio to see if I can make some sense of my massive collection of pictures.

View on Flickr

Waiting for a Bus

Until twenty years ago, only blind people could legally be masseuses. I think the same law may have applied to architects and city planners.

I had twenty minutes or so to kill before my bus was due to arrive so I took a little walk. I made the above photo from a street corner. I stopped into a convenience store to have a tin of warm coffee (coffee-flavoured sugar and milk powder) and went back to the bus stop with plenty of time to spare. I opened Hipstamatic on my phone and waited.

This wasn't my bus.

This was also not my bus.

This was my bus. I was home and preparing dinner in no time.

Tearing it Down

Downtown Sokcho

 There are back streets in Sokcho that are eyesores because they've been abandoned and left to fall into disrepair. Someone has lately put up tarpaulins in front of an old restaurant in a major tourist area and is starting to demolish it. No doubt it'll be replaced by yet another fish restaurant. Or a coffee shop.

Cat on Rock

 

Yeongnang Lake

I didn't notice the cat while I was sizing up this landscape scene on my phone because he's the same colour as the rocks. I only saw him when I started looking at how to frame the rocks. Kitty was looking out over its kingdom so I tutted a few times to get its attention.

This might be my favourite photo of the year.