Passing of a Friend

I realized something many years ago. I had an unusual friend. My Pentax camera. You've heard me speak of my Pentax off and on. It is truly a dear friend to me. And has accompanied me in many of my travels. To the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. To Acadia National Park near Bar Harbor, Maine. Many trips to the Hocking Hills of southcentral Ohio. Of course, the beautiful Bluegrass state of Kentucky. As well as the states of Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, California, Washington, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina. The list goes on.

However, the release button on my Pentax has decided it's tired and either needs surgery or a retirement plan. It has also been increasingly difficult getting the film take up to "not" catch the past year or two. It's tired. After 20 years of shooting film, you would be tired also.

My Pentax is a K1000 which is, I think, the camera still used to teach university students the basics of photography. It is strictly manual. No automatic functions. I taught myself how to "shoot the light" without retouching my outdoor photos with my Pentax.

My Pentax has shot waterfalls, wildlife refuges, national parks, state parks, nature preserves, wetlands, rivers, creeks, swamps, bogs and the occasional pond. Leaves, branches, trunks and obviously trees. Forest, woods, mountains, hills, valleys. Bears, deer, snakes. Cardinals, chickadees, finches. Bugs, butterflies. And at times, family, friends, holidays and birthdays.

My only regrets. I photographed two trips, one to Big Sur, California, and one to the Olympic Peninsula, but shot regular film, not slide film, this was prior to my "bitten by the photography bug" life. I pitched many, many, many a slide due to bad lighting, bad composition or just plain bad subject matter if there is such a thing. All of the best shots you see in my montage to the right were taken with my Pentax.

So I ask you what does a friend do for such a dear friend! I'll keep you posted. Comments are welcome always.