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As a youngster, I was interested enough in photography to want my own camera.  My parents gave me a Kodak Brownie kit when I was about ten years old.   Like so many  camera owners, I shot only a few rolls of film (127 format) and wish now that I'd shot many, many more.   I remember dropping that camera and chipping a corner but it still  worked.  

About my junior year in college, I bought a more sophisticated Kodak Instamatic camera.  A fancy thing, it used a drop-in film cartridge and a flashcube that didn't even require batteries!

The Brownie and most of my early photographs did not survive Hurricane Camille in 1969.  I had the Instamatic with me and shot some of the damage when I returned to Biloxi the day after Camille.

In college, a friend was picking up the photography hobby and I was beginning to realize the limits of my knowledge and equipment.  He wanted to switch medium format so I bought his 35mm Exakta; he bought a Yashica 12 (120 film).  A few years later, we swapped cameras.

In 1970, I graduated from college and went to work for Eastman Kodak's Chemical Division in Longview, Texas.  Texas Eastman had a well equipped photography club with members who were eager to share their knowledge of photography.  This was my real introduction to photography.  In addition to a darkroom, the club had a studio and rental cameras.  In 1972, I bought a Konica T2 (35mm) camera which I still have and use.  For years, I had no lenses other than the 50mm that came with the camera but more recently, I've bought a number of used Konica lenses.  

My current photo equipment also includes:
       Canon EOS Elan 7 with an assortment of lenses
       Voigtlander Bessa "L" with 15mm lens
and a handful of old cameras, some of which are described on my camera page. 

My darkroom skills were never particularly good; I'm much better at scanning negatives, processing the scans in Photoshop and making a digital print.  Currently, I use a Canon FS4000 scanner and Epson 1200 inkjet printer.