My first camera.
Back in 2006 Olympus E300 came into my life. It was a dream come true. I knew absolutely nothing about photography. But the passion for it had me holding that camera at all times. I shot & shot & shot. I shot everything & anything. People, nature, the most random & insignificant things. I loved it. Then it got to the weddings. Then it got to being paid for shooting weddings. & my passion had faded away.
At that point, photography had become rather means to get something or somewhere. I wanted for my photography to be something more than mere stills. I wanted it to lead to something bigger. & as it had never emerged to that – I began to forget what the camera feels like in my hand.
What’s cooler than a picture? A motion picture.
Couple of years back I came across this guy named Vincent Laforet. He had been a professional photographer for a number of years, & had really made it in the world of photography. I came across Vincent’s site soon after he had his hands on a Canon 5D mark ll. This was the beginning of the HDDSLR era. The guy’s passion & his talent were incredibly inspirational to me. But I did not even dare to dream to try to do things that would be even remotely close to his work. Until about a year ago.
A year prior to that I met this guy, Craig Strong. He came to Ukraine to adopt these twin girls that were at the orphanage where I’d helped to do a summer camp, & who I loved dearly. Craig was a very hip guy, who was a bit strange (much like every single person I’d ever met from Oregon) & very easy going. & until Craig with his beautiful wife Shari & their kids came back to Ukraine in 2010 to finalize the adoption process, I had no idea that he was actually a camera guru, who had years of experience in journalism & weddings. & to top it off, not only Craig was becoming a daddy to these two girls (already having three other kids), he was also a dad of Lensbaby. I knew nothing of what Lensbaby was back then, & if you, like me then are clueless – Lensbaby is a very wide variety of products that create magic if you place them between your camera & a lens. Or you can get by without a lens at all. Check out the Lensbaby website to learn about it.
GH1.
This May Craig had come back with Dasha & Alina for them to visit their sisters & friends here. & I had a privilege to spend a great & crazy week with them, supposedly being of help with translation & transportation & such. I was of very little help. Partially because of what Craig had brought for me to bless me with. An amazing new HDDSLR camera! Not only my passion for photography got re-kindled, now I could shoot HD video aspiring to produce films like those by Vincent Laforet that blew my mind one day.
My new beautiful camera came with a package. A Lensbaby Tilt Transformer, a Tamron Tele-Macro 28-70mm 1:3,5-4,5 lens & a Nikon flash with an remote IR transmitter for it, an extra battery & a 16 G flash card. & all this magic was possible because of… God. Just so you know. God, & a few amazing & generous people.
& the point of this particular post – is to tell you that I am back in the business, inspired, passionate & prepared more than ever; & to say thank you to the people who made it possible. Thank you, Craig Strong! Thank you, Lisa Tanner! Thank you, Marina Koslow!
A few more words. All three of these people are a miracle to me. Craig is pretty awesome because… well, all that I just wrote about him 
Lisa. I had never met her. Neither did she ever hear of me until Craig told her he’d love to bless me with a camera & stuff, & she had donated a wicked lens that made the purchase of my new camera possible. Marina. I’d known Marina for years. She’d married a friend of mine & moved to Oregon, where she had become a great photographer. & though, it is only natural that Marina would meet Craig at some point – to me it is quite a miracle.
& finally.
I have a very long way to go to get where I want to be. But being so inspired by my new toy & its tricks, I have been spending hours upon hours watching all sorts of seminars & workshops, reading technical blogs & forums, & playing with my toy. &, I have to make a statement that in a matter of the past month I had finally began to understand what photography is, & accordingly during this month I’d grown ten times more than I have since 2006 when I got my hands on that good ol’ Olympus E300.
Pictures are coming soon.
