danstark.com

I’ve had this domain registered since 2000 or so. I had a Hotmail account as soon as they launched in 1996 and before Microsoft purchased them. My first vanity email address was danstark @ email .com about that same time. I don’t even know what happened to that domain.

I’m an early adopter of online places.

I began my online photography with alt.photo on Usenet in the early 1990’s in the college computer lab. I was scanning my film then. I was captured by photo.net before it was lost to progress. I joined Flickr when it launched and stuck with it throughout the years and acquisitions. Even though it was always terrible for photography, I went to Instagram before it was acquired. The diverse community there made it strong.

There is no one place you can depend upon. In the end, you can only depend upon your own.

Photography

I began my photography in a 9th grade darkroom in 1984. I used a Pentax Spotmatic that my Dad gave to me. He upgraded to the Canon AE-1 Program and I got the Pentax as a hand-me-down. I still have both.

After that I took a photography class nearly every semester from high school through college. I credit those courses for rounding out my science based education and degree. I always had a reason to go to the Art Building and make friends with artists.

I first used Photoshop in 1992 or so. At the same time I was learning the Zone System and using it to work with my home-built 4x5 large format view camera. I couldn’t afford to buy the beautiful wooden Zone VI 4x5 I wanted so I ordered a kit from Bender and built it by hand in my Dad’s shop. After I finished the camera build we designed a tripod together and built it out of white oak. Next we built a beautiful wood box to hold the entire kit. My mom sewed my darkcloth.

Whether it’s the cameras we use or how we share the results, everything is changing all the time.

Reflecting

My heart is heavy today as I write this. Although your own .com is always a great place to maintain, I’m more sad than usual for what we’ve lost.

1/20/25