Canon 3... Put up or Shut up.

So we step back a little to my Canon chapter. If this confuses, don't feel like the Lone Photographer, (Hiyo, Silver hialides, away!)
I'm carrying my little system into college and suddenly there is a need for a yearbook photographer. This is a small college, so my odds of competing with a decent photog is lessened. OK, let's do this, "Me, me I can do it." I squeak.

The first lesson you learn is there is ALWAYS somebody there to tell you what, how, when, and etc, forever. So you have to learn to be a team player, not that I'm not, just a little, sort of, ...headstrong. The next thing that happens is an editor starts critiqueing your work. This can be good or bad depending on how knowledgeable the person is and if you are willing to listen for once in your life. OK, I listened, and finally learned something.
Listen up. Your pictures represent a 3 dimensional object being reproduced in 2 D. There has to be something to give the viewer a clue that there is depth in the picture, an optical illusion for example. I just hung a tree branch down in front of the lens to give the feeling of depth. And I did it a lot. Just check the yearbook, ignore that there seems to be a lot of trees inside all the buildings. I got up high and shot down, I liked that especially for groups and learned to limit getting low and shooting up, especially if a person was a little overweight, or a lot overweight. To be honest is sometimes less important that to be kind.
Now, I'm happily running along and smack headlong into a lesson.
My 50mm breaks down. Inside the lens are a set of blades that limit the amount of light that enters the camera, these blades open and close smoothly. This set, however, jammed in an impossible to use position with one blade twisted and the others closed to some odd shape.
I'm left with just an 100mm to finish the year. At this point I'm in a serious conference with the yearbook faculty member looking for options. Halfsies on a new lens? Next lesson: organizations are incredibly cheap,... no.
At this time in my journey Ididn't know about the used camera market. That would come with a stunning pow! So, the cheap organization came up with a cheap solution to my problem: they got another photographer to LOAN me a camera.
Stop laughing.
I hear you, "Loan?"
Stop giggling, too.
On the appointed day, he arrived with a nice case and handed me an Olympus OM-1 with a 28mm f/3.5.
What a jewel! I held the little SLR in my hands and looked it over whike he explained the operation of the camera. I don't remember one word. What a jewel.
Olympus was known for small bodies and this one really was, and it was manual, and I was into manual. Happy, happy me.
There is a picture in the yearbook of me taking a picture. Over my shoulder hangs the Canon AE-1 with Winder and 100mm lens. Jammed into my face is the Olympus OM-1 with its little wide angle lens. Of note is I'm holding the camera wrong. But I corrected that when I saw the picture. Also with the camera jammed in my face, I really am a handsome guy. You should be so lucky.
One day I'm going to figure out how to put pictures with my notes.

Next chapter, some more lessons