Do you remember the first photos you have ever taken with your DSLR camera? Someone asked me how I started my photography journey yesterday and I decided to go find out in my photo archives.
I actually don't recall, until I tried to search for it for this latest Steemit post. It was taken almost a decade ago.
My First DSLR
I bought my first DSLR on the 22nd of November 2008. I still remembered the location I met the seller - at KFC, SS2 PJ. I have decided to buy a used camera, and I found on Low Yat Forum the a great bargain. A Samsung GX-1S with twin kit lenses (18-55 and 55-200 lenses) for only RM1000 (around USD250). I made the plunge to get a DSLR simply because my Sony point-and-shoot wasn't giving me the photos I expected (I got lots of blurry pictures. On hindsight, getting a DSLR didn't fix my blurry pictures until I learnt how to use the camera). My wife also just got pregnant with our firstborn and I wanted to make sure I captured every moment beautifully.
My first camera vs my latest camera side by side virtually. Source: cameradecision.com
Remember, these were the days where the iPhone was not available yet (in fact announced literally a few months prior) and DSLRs had six whole Megapixels. With a DSLR, my photos suddenly look so different with shallow depth of field even with the kit lens. Oh yeah, the Samsung DSLR, I later found out was a OEM rebranded camera of a Pentax * ist DS2 camera. Which really means I just bought a non-Canikon and finding lenses would be a bit more challenging.
The Sepang A1 Grand Prix Race - 4th Season, Round 3
A day after I got my camera, I had the opportunity to go to Sepang F1 Circuit for a free A1 race. That was the 23rd of November 2008. I believe my tickets were sponsored by someone as I definitely would not pay for it. I'm not a sports person, and until a minute ago, I thought A1 race is for racers aren't good enough for the F1. Gee thanks Wikipedia for uncovering me of my ignorance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A1_Grand_Prix.
TL:DR - A1 teams are based on countries and all teams uses the same race cars made by Ferrari.
Our Malaysian racer. Wait, is that Alex Yoong?
My focus was the car. See how pretty the Ferraris are? Team Italy here.
For a guy who just got a DSLR, I thought my photos turned out pretty good. The secret to these photos is simply plenty of sunlight and good ol' Auto mode. I simply let the camera do all the magic and I just zoomed in to 200mm and pressed a button.
Team China
Plus is a sponsor? I guess everyone had to pay toll before they start racing
Go team Malaysia! If you lose the race, there's always Jobstreet.com!
Team Monaco
Team India
Team Netherlands
This is the way Frenchmen work out
Team Brazil
Team Guy Sebastian. I mean South Africa.
Is it me or is it getting hot in here? Team Monaco.
Wow pro videographers shoot on Segways in 2008.
All ready to rumble!
The End of An Era
Looking back at these photos, I realised how fortunate I was to have attended an A1 race in Sepang. This is simply because there is no future opportunities to do so. The Malaysian Sepang F1 Circuit is now closed. And the A1 Gran Prix stopped one year after these photos were taken. Not only that, the DSLR I had was one of the last Samsung DSLRs ever created.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have caught history and am sharing it with all of you exclusively from Steemit.
Wow I did a pan shot. On my second day with the camera! How cool is that?
And that's a wrap from Team Malaysia.
Team huddle!
I didn't expect myself to write so much about this. Thought I would just be sharing one photo and called it my first DSLR photo. Ended up with so much more for myself, and hopefully for my readers.
Follow Me for more photo stories as open up my albums from 2008. I promise to only share quality photos and stories always. Upvote and Resteem if you got something out of this post!