. . . and the February  Photographer of the Month is . . .

Otis Alexander

Photo-Bio

By Otis Alexander

I think I first got interested in photography when I saw my first National Geographic magazine.  I had got a library card at 8 or 9 years old. I would go to library to check out a book, and wander around and saw these magazines with the yellow border, and would sit for hours looking at the pictures.  I talked my Aunt into getting me a camera for my 10th birthday. I know it was a Kodak, it 620 film, had a built in flash that used flash bulbs. I would take pictures of my cousins at family gatherings and have to wait until I could get them processed. When I got to Jr. High School I fell in love with the trumpet, and the camera when by the wayside.  My interest in photography came back in High School when I found out the school had a photo department.  I tried to talk my mother into letting me take a class, but she had just bought me a new horn so she said no way.

The Viet Nam war was heating up and Life and Look magazine would have all of these amazing photos of what was going on over there. After High School I joined the Marines and ended up in Viet Nam as an airplane mechanic, but before I went over there I bought myself a high end Kodak Instamatic camera.  These cameras used a cartridge that you just dropped in and fired away. The heat and humidity killed that camera.   While there I picked up a Mamiya Secor 500TL 35mm SLR.  It had a screw mount lens, and a through the lens light meter that was easy to use.  I took a lot of pictures with that camera, but the film processing was real slow, and the quality was real bad.

After I got out of the service I got a job, got married and had a child. I started using the camera to take pictures of my new baby, and my interest in photography was starting to grow even more. I met a co-worker that was also interested in photography, and we started hanging out together taking pictures.

We soon found a place that had rental darkrooms for printing, they had enlargers, supplied all the chemical for black and white print processing and wash and dried the prints. They also processed black and white film. I spent so much time there that they offered me a part-time job.

A lot of pros came in to get film processed, and I soon ended up helping out a couple as an assistant. It was around this time that I got my first Nikon. It was  an F model, that meant no meter, I had to use the paper that came with the film to figure out the exposure.  My next purchase was a Gossen Luna-Pro light meter.  Working as an assistant was hard work, long hours, having to carry heavy equipment cases, being responsible for the film and very bad pay. I did get to learn a lot about lighting though.  I was able to use a lot of different equipment.  I got a to use a Hasselblad and a 4x5 view camera.

I was trying to support a wife and a baby, and by this time I had bought a small house, and things were tight. I came to the realization that I had to get a real job. Photography would have to wait. It was a long time before I picked a camera again.

Fast forward 30 years and the call of the camera was pulling at me again. I bought an Olympus point and shoot just to carry around, and got hooked all over again. I started looking at DSLR and decided on an Olympus E-500 with the 2 lens kit. Digital was a new animal, and I had to work hard to get used to it. I found a lot of info on the internet, and was soon back in the swing of things. I like to shoot people and that meant I had to really learn lighting. I like to get it right in the camera, it saves a lot of time in editing, plus I really suck at Photoshop.  One of the photographers that I worked for had a motto that I try to go by now . It was “do the reshoot now.”