Photography first caught my eye about sixty years ago. My dad often took pictures of family gatherings and events, so a camera was always around in my house. In those years I saw at home different kinds of cameras come and go. Relatives and family friends also had their cameras that I could sometimes use and handle so I became quite fond of the shiny and perfectly built cameras made by the likes of Voigtlander, Zeiss Ikon, Kodak, Rollei, Canon and of course the now legendary beauty queen: the Leica.

Apart from the stimulus I got with family photography and whenever my aunt took us kids to have our pictures taken at the studio of Manuel Gómez Miralles, the best photographer Costa Rica (my country of birth) has given so far, I was exposed during my visits to the barbershop to the best of the best of picture publishing: LIFE magazine. LIFE was then for many, the way to learn about photographic taste, composition, esthetics, and doubtless an outstanding way of aquainting yourself with the work of many of the best photographers of the time.

There in front of you, with magnificent layout, fine and big printing, with the only obstacle of your hair trimmings falling on the page, you could stick your nose with wide open eyes in one of the latest issues and be absorbed looking at world events of every sort and in the process, be exposed to fabulous photographic work. Quite a learning experience and motivation source for a young kid just getting started.

Later on, when I was older, I was somewhat held back by school chores and a novel competition for my photo interests that became apparent then: beautiful legs in nylon stockings and, of course, romance. It was no easy choice to make between taking a girl to the movies or buying a few rolls of film. I let you guess dear reader what was usually chosen at the end. After all, even photographers succumb to temptation once in a while.

When I became seventeen and attending school in California, my mother gave me as a present the small and very simple to use Kodak Retinette equipped with an excellent Schneider 50mm f/3.5 lens. This camera and Kodachrome was for me heaven on earth. That was the time when I decided for good that photography was to become a serious endeavor in my life.

After that came my college years and I became busy with my studies to concern myself too much with picture making. Nevertheless, I kept trying to learn more to improve my craft, and had the opportunity of taking photographs of people and events of interest like the historic visit to Costa Rica of US president JFK in March of 1963.

My initial experiments with photography in the streets came to be during a long trip to New York City. Where else. I had spent a full (cold) winter in Canada where I purchased a new and beautiful Nikon Nikkormat equipped with the outstanding 50mm f/1.4 Nikkor lens. The camera was perfection and beauty all over that included a luxurious real leather case that I still remember well. Mad about the cold and with the purpose of thawing up and visiting relatives in New York, I was given a lift by friends in Toronto and landed in the Big Apple with my new camera in the spring of 1971.

I was astonished with the feverish and nonstop life of the City. No wonder, I thought, New York is populated with so many great photographers. New York was no Yosemite nor the Grand Canyon. The subject matter was defined, of course, by people in the streets, encased in one of the most photogenic urban surroundings in the world. The cauldron of hippies, the flower culture, Wall Street, Viet Nam antiwar protesters, mind blowing odd characters, celebrities and performers of all sorts, visitors from all over the globe, practicioners of strange faiths, was mesmerizing.

This incredible sight and ceaseless movement that I could only describe as photographer’s paradise caught my attention inmediately, and I began to burn rolls of Tri-X on every opportunity I could afford to photograph in the streets. The passion was born and it has remained with me until to this very day.

Years later, when I finally decided to incursion into the new world of digital photography I got hold of the first Pentax DSLR, a very serviceable machine, smaller and lighter than most of its siblins and of very nice image quality at the time. This change of film for pixels made the darkroom suddenly irrelevant and forced me to get acquainted with the complexities of computers and editing software. Recently, I happily embraced the Micro Four Thirds format, which to my mind (and age) is just about the best available gear to work with in the streets today.

I have sold prints and done some comercial work over the years, but I never had much interest in becoming a PRO. For me first and most, photography is a toy for amateurs. I prefer the freedom, worryfree pace and enjoyment that persuing the art as an amateur will give you for certain. I never saw myself practicing photography as an 8 to 5 job and depending on it for a livelihood. It seems to me that this can compromise the magic and fun of image making.

There have been good, bad and even great amateurs, but if the output is of value, it will always be sought after for a price or gratis; but in the end, the main thing is the personal enjoyment of the photographer and the enrichment of his soul doing this crazy work, and then sharing it with people with the same inclination where the financial stuff is of little or no consecuence.

Lastly, I want to apologize if there are imprecisions in my little narrative, but at 72 sometimes events and dates become a litle fuzzy in my memory. Thank you friend for reading and I humbly hope you will enjoy the posted images.