Cameras have always been a part of my life. I grew up with flash bulbs blinding me on a fairly regular basis and so I suppose it is only natural that I became interested in photography at a fairly young age. My father had a 35mm SLR that I was never allowed to touch as it was assumed, quite reasonably, that I would probably break it. My mother had a 110 camera however, and that is the camera I was able to get my hands on.

Small, low quality, fixed focus, no exposure controls, my mother’s camera was my introduction to photography and I loved it. I loved shooting photos, I loved getting the small prints back from the drug store. I loved seeing the images in all of their grainy and out of focus glory, it was simply magic as far as I was concerned. This created a love for low end, poor quality cameras that continues with me today.

As I grew older I acquired better cameras and my skills improved to the point that now when my film is developed I can be reasonably certain that the image I hoped to capture is the image I find on the film and I am very happy about that. But I still enjoy the mistakes and the accidents and relinquishing control of my images from time to time and this causes me to break out my 110 and toy cameras. I love the lack of control, the scratches on the negatives, the lens flares and light leaks. I hope for surprises and these low tech, mainly plastic, little boxes of magic that often take me back to my childhood never cease to surprise me.