I am a retired aerospace engineer. I always had an interest in photography; still have my first camera, a Kodak Bantam f.8 that was given to me in late 1964; but never had the time or money to pursue my interest. Hearing of Kodak's efforts to return Ektachrome to the market reignited my photography interest, especially after surveying the film cameras I already owned, and I dove into the Googleverse to learn everything I could about 21st century film and digital photography - a major eBay photography gas* attack soon followed.

My digital camera of choice is the Sony a7, because it has a full sized sensor, was reasonably priced used on eBay and can be cheaply adapted to all the Minolta MD and Canon FD lenses I already owned. Upon repeatedly staring at a Polaroid Land Camera 95a that I inherited, I eventually figured out how to convert 40 series Polaroids to 4x5 and 3.25x4.25; I have three that I've converted - all coupled rangefinder models 160 and 800 - with with backs that accept standard cut sheet film holders and one that used a custom cut sheet film holder. I've adapted my Sony a7 to the back of an Omega View 45E to shoot digital mosaics across the focal plane; these are then stitched together with PanoramaStitcher to create up to 500 megapixel images. Maybe, as I develop my craft, I'll make even bigger ones.

Though I developed B&W film in middle school, I developed my first B&W film on my own in early 2019. First with Arista Ortho/Litho in 1:31 Dektol and secondly with Arista EDU Ultra 100 in Kodak HC-110B.

* gear acquisition syndrom