The History or Story Behind My Site
I had been a photo buff most of my life, starting with my first camera when I was 6 years old (1949 for those who want my age). A little more than a year later I was helping my parents in the darkroom. I saved my allowance and lawn cutting money to move up to a 35mm camera in 1956. I was school photographer for 2 years in high school and photographer for the Kansas State University paper for 1 semester. I worked in the University studio part time 4 years and full time 4 years. I freelanced for a local business and shot weddings in my spare time. When I came to my present employment, I was involved in depth - shooting, camera collecting, custom darkroom service, color home printing and more. Photography was most of my life.

Camera Collecting
When I came to work for Wolfe's camera (wolfes.com is their web site) in 1969 it broadened my view of photography. Working in a studio, I had just the view of working in a single area. As I began trying new things, the cameras around, especially used ones, got me expanding my interest into camera collecting. At first, like many, I bought helter skelter with no real sense of direction or any idea what things are worth. Then I discovered the Midwest Photographic Historical Society (St. Louis, Mo.) and started attending shows. It was a real eye opener. By the mid 70's I had a sizeable collection. By the time I met my wife to be in the late 70's, I was starting to loose interest due to the dominance of collector-dealers at the shows. What used to be fun, like a giant club meeting with speakers and a banquet, was getting to be more business and dog-eat-dog. I sold most of my collection, and have only recently begun creating a modest collection centering on nostalgia items from my past - and some other items I found fascinating, particularly the Russian Kiev cameras.

I also help with the site for my Scout Troop.
Troop 1