
Thinking primate
Olympus OM-1, zoom lens (I forget which)
Fujicolor 200
2011
It was when I took my first Olympus OM-1 to the zoo that I came to see why the 35mm SLR had become so popular. I was still pretty new to the whole SLR game and up to that point I wasn’t in love, as I found their operation to be far more complicated than the all-manual viewfinder and rangefinder cameras I normally shot. But the light bulb went on at the zoo when I was able to compose and check depth of field, and be sure of the photo I was going to get.
I still have this OM-1 but I haven’t shot it in a few years. It’s a lovely camera except for the shutter-speed selector being on the lens barrel. I’m sure that if I used it all the time I’d get used to it. I need to try, because it’s just that great of a camera otherwise.