Hello All - Slightly New Member Here

**C. Pritchett** · 24-Apr-2010, 17:50

Hi All - Joined a bit ago, never posted my hello thread. Just to introduce myself; I am:

A Staff Sergeant in the US Army, Active Duty. (promotion to Sergeant First Class in the next few months, I was just selected for SFC at the end of March; yay!)
A Father of three boys, 6, 9, and 13
A Husband of 10 years (13 yo son is from my ex wife)

A Photographer & Printmaker - I have been actively taking photographs for about 10 years now, just recently in the past month started printing my own at home. I have always been interested in printing and finally decided to take the step.

I found a great deal on almost a whole darkroom setup and jumped on it. I don't get lucky all that much but I bought a Beseler 45 MXT, Archival Print Washer (11X14 max), Arkay print dryer, and all the other necessities and some very nice optional gear and away I went! I "borrowed" the downstairs bathroom since our condo isn't big enough for me to build my own right now.

I shoot solely 4X5 now, I have over the years gone through 35mm, 645, 6X6, 6X7, 6X9, 4X5, and completely digital (for a very short time). Now I have gone back to 4X5 and am happy here. I currently shoot with a Toyo 45A as my primary camera and am very happy with the ol girl.

I also enjoy restoring older wooden cameras to their prior glory, I am currently almost finished with a 4X5 Gundlach flatbed and am beginning work on a Folmer & Schwing R.B Cycle Graphic and a 5X7 of unknown origin.

Anyway enough about me, glad to be here. I am also a member on APUG.org (as I am sure a good portion of others here are) so you may know me from there as "photobizzz" which is my dream when I retire from the military in 10 years, to own a photography business of some sort, type undeterminied as of now.

See you around the forum!

Colin

**Oren Grad** · 24-Apr-2010, 18:24

Thank you for your service - and welcome!

**Vick Vickery** · 24-Apr-2010, 19:06

Welcome to group therepy, Sarge! With boys 5, 9, and 13, and an army to keep in line (thats what Sergeants are for, ain't it???) you're probably gonna need it! Thanks for keeping us safe!

**sultanofcognac** · 25-Apr-2010, 00:24

A-Hooah Sergeant,

I'm an ex-E5 25P (film and video production) with tours at SEB (Vicenza) and SCN (Panama) under my belt. I slithered out of the R-Me when they had that big draw-down in 1992 (they paid me to leave - how cool is that?) and have had almost no contact from any circus (oops). . . service types since (no US bases in either Switzerland or France)!

Although, for my day job I do fly over the pond to attend the AUSA convention in October every year

(ever read Armada International?)

Welcome to the best forum for LF kit. These pros have convinced me to spend ALL of my money on gear and film and I've just bought a Paterson Orbital kit for my own developing.

This collection of LF junkies certainly has a way of keeping us working stiffs poor but happy. Be careful reading the posts here - you'll find you're often spending more time reading and learning than out shooting (in 'you' I mean me).

Welcome Colin,

Johnny

P.S. My son's with the combat engineers and just left for his first tour of Iraq - he's 21

**Charles Hohenstein** · 25-Apr-2010, 07:03

Welcome, Colin, and thank you for your service.

**Jay DeFehr** · 25-Apr-2010, 08:01

Welcome Colin!

I'm a sloper up here in Prudhoe on a 3x3 rotation; home being Idaho. Alaska is a wild and diverse place! I've been thinking about how to photograph up here since I first came up, in 2000. I've brought a few different kinds of small cameras up, but never LF. It's a challenging environment, as you know, especially during the long, dark winters, but that's the most fascinating (and longest!) season, for me. -50F temps are not friendly to mechanical things, or to glass with spaces between. I'm sure you understand. I fly over a good portion of the state every 3 weeks, with my nose pressed against the tiny porthole, imagining photographing in the wilds of the Brooks Range, or the patterns of the frozen inlet from a hot air balloon. When I was a kid, I used to look out the car window and imagine myself riding alongside on a motorcycle, negotiating all the obstacles I encountered. I guess I'm getting old.

Welcome, enjoy the incredibly knowledgeable and friendly group here, photographing your magnificent environment, and working in your new dark room!

Jay

**C. Pritchett** · 25-Apr-2010, 16:29

Thanks all for your comments, I have served for almost 10 years but thankfully I have only done one 14mo rotation in Iraq. I am sure I will be going over to the sandbox again soon but the unit I am right now takes care of wounded Soldiers so we are considered "non-deployable" but this is a special duty assignment and for only 2 yrs. Then is it is back to a normal unit and rotations.

Tell you son to keep his eyes and head on a swivel, especially as a combat engineer. I am sure he will be fine if he just remembers his training. Iraq isn't near as bad as it used to be, I got back from Iraq in Sept 08 and it was getting progressively better. It is Afghanistan that I don't want to go to... but we go where they tell us, after all the Army knows best right? Right? LOL.