Southern Boobook (Ninox novaeseelandiae)

Wow Kennedy! 30-yr old picture!

I have pictures on Dave's Garden much older than that. This one is 49 years old!
http://davesgarden.com/guides/birdfiles/showimage/6910/

Ken

I now added a pic, Ken. What a nice picture from 1964 - may be one of your earliest colour prints from your Pakistan days!

Dinu

Good one Dinu. Back in 1964 I only had a 50mm lens, so good shots of the adult were pretty well impossible!

I managed to remeber one even earlier picture. In the summer of 1960, I spent my first summer vacation from University in Ghana, working on an engineering site (the construction of Tema Harbour). So this butterfly picture was taken 53 years ago!
http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/showimage/924/

Ken

Taking pictures itself was a special thing in those days. Sure you can recall the joy of those times when you saw the prints after probably some days when the film roll was over.

Dinu

Yes indeed, and it was sometimes a very long wait. 6 months in Pakistan (combined with 2 weeks in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) mean't I didn't see any of my pictures until after my return to England.
And nearly 3 months in Ghana also mean't a long wait before I saw any of my pictures!

Ken

I'm sure, very sure, Ken, you would have noted down the exposure number and a description of what you took in a small diary lest you forgot!

Dinu

Dinu, you are almost right there. I have been a meticulous record keeper for many, many years, but not as early as that. I did not own my own camera until after my trip to Pakistan and it was then that I started keeping records of exposure, aperture, camera, lens, subject and date. My records started in June 1965 and I have kept them up continuously every since. I just went back through the 34 little books in which I have recorded all my photos since 1965 and it seems I have taken 51,443 photos in the last 48 years! The vast majority of those are of the natural world, although my granddaughter has now become my favourite subject.

Ken

Wow Ken, that is really an enormous amount of pictures you have kept count. You must have flipped the pages several hundreds of times for one thing or other, right? And you are a real veteran in many things also having visited many countries, met different people and lived in different cultures. I assume you are living in happy environs of your lovely home. Why assume, it must be true. With success and dedication such as yours comes only when there support from other quarters. Right? Am sure you must be enjoying the little one's growth and even kid photography! Glad you are in the digital age with kids around!

Dinu