[LRFlex] My Biography
- From: "Langhans, Aram" <araml@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <leicareflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 9 Apr 2004 09:22:31 -0700
Well, even thought I have not been able to straighten out my account to receive
mail, here is my bio for your enjoyment or delete key....
And I was wondering - maybe we could create a bio page that could be a
collection of all our bio's so they would be available to one and all, and
newcomers, too. I give permission for mine to be included.
Lets see. My name is Aram Langhans and as my signature line states, I am at
teacher at Naches High School (by Yakima, WA, USA for those with a map). I am
53 year old and this is my 30th year of teaching and wondering when I should
retire. Married for 30 years but no children (other than those I teach). I
occasionally also teach photography since about 1978. I became interested in
photography in grade school with an old Kodak 620 film camera, then a 126
instamatic. Early in college (University of Washington) I used my dad's Argus
C3 and became hooked. Before graduation I bought an Edixamat reflex and have
been a serious SLR user since. As zoology is my science major, I became
interested in macro work. A few extension tubes and I was in heaven even
thought there was no TL metering. Learned all the basics so I appreciate the
TL metering. Had a Nikon F for a while but hated it and sold it. After
looking at a bunch of cameras like Pentax Spotmatics and Olympus OM-1, I bought
a Rollei SL-35 in 1973 and another in '74. Good thing, as a friend
conveniently lost my Edixamat by leaving it on a plane in New York on a return
flight from Germany. I was hooked on German lenses (Zeiss). They beat the
socks off my old Nikon and the other cameras friends were using. Used my
SL-35's until about 5 years ago when I decided to upgrade. I was having
metering problems with one body and sent it to Harry Fleanor about three times
to resolve it. Sort of scared me. Tested out some Contax cameras to stay with
Zeiss lenses, but didn't like the feel, so I bought a Leica R4 and a few
lenses. About 1 ½ years ago I bought an R8 and the R4 hasn't seen much use.
To me the R8 (now R9) is the ultimate manual focus camera. Super viewfinder
with diopter adjustment for my aging eyes, and great choice of metering
options. My biggest gripe with the R4-7 series was that manual metering was
only in spot mode. Only drawback to me with the R8 is the weight, so I lust
for an R9, but can't afford one.
I use my 100/2.8 APO lens by far the most, followed by my 35/2. Also have a
24/2.8, 90/2.8 and 180/4. Macro work is my favorite, but I love to photograph
just about anything. I gave a slide show to a hiking/travel club a bit back
and titled it "Photos on the Beaten Path - places everyone has been but perhaps
never seen". As the title implies, I don't travel well anymore with bad knees
and a bad back, so I do more local things. I am in the middle of my first
gallery exhibit and have actually almost broken even with sales. The web site
is http://www.compwrx.com/langhans/bonair/ and many in the "old group" helped
me with suggestions, some of which I had the skills to actually implement.
So that is me (incorrect grammar and all). I hope to continue learning from
this group with all the expertise it has.
Aram
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