Being in the Moment.

Some years ago when digital photography was just an egg waiting fertilisation, we were on a family holiday in the snow at Mt. Hotham in the Australian Alps.
This was 1992.
I was shooting transparencies, negative film and VHS movies.

We stayed in a popular chalet overlooking some snow covered hills.

I was woken by my wife about 6am who said come and look at the sunrise.

I quickly set up my video camera and set it rolling and starting taking some still shots on transparency film on my pentax.

At first there were these swirling dark, grey then white clouds drifting into the valley and you could see the glow of the sun trying to break through.

Then an amazing scene presented it self which looked like some thing out of Star Trek.

Remember "Beam me up Scotty".

I captured this on vhs video and here is my favourite still shot.

The image could be a lot better but this was what appeared for a fleeting moment.

The Tamron Fotovix- The shape of things to come?

When the digital photography world was just beginning to encroach on analogue(film) photography along came the state of the art Tamron Fotovix. (1991)

The one pictured is the amateur model and there was a more expensive one for about $3000.

For a couple of years I had my heart set on one of these quite expensive items.

I am glad I never wasted my money on one.

The apparatus was designed so you could scan negatives or positive films and transfer them to a TV screen or a Video Tape.

This was before digital cameras had really come into their own.

Everyone was still shooting film.

Now there are film scanners that can do the same thing.

The only time I saw one of these being used successfully for commercial purposes was when we had a family holiday in the Australian Alps at Mt Hotham in 1992.

Photographers were employed by an entrepeneur who had set up a photo business based on one of these.

Photographers would photograph, on negative film, holiday makers snow boarding and skiing over jumps etc.

The business owner would then develop the films and show them on a tv screen with a number for each pic.

People would check them out and choose one or two  and he would print them for a price after they placed their order.

He seemed to be doing a roaring trade.

A curious thing that was seen as very innovative at the time.