It was 1960, and the first time my grandfather had taken my father out fluke fishing. Upon hauling his first catch over the rail, my father immediately noticed the peculiar placement of the fish’s eyes, which peered out from the same side of it’s flat scaly body. My father fascinated by what he saw, in his childhood curiosity exclaimed, “ Wow, I wonder what it’s like to see the world through the eyes of a fluke”. My grandfather, being the playful, creative and ingenuitive man that he was ,replied, “What do you say we find out”
Unfortunately, I never had the chance to meet my grandfather directly, however I know him through the creativity, passion for photography, music and the arts, and the innovative spirit that he passed on into my father and into my life as well. Aside from their fishing trips and adventures in nature, my grandfather was also an avid photographer and had his own dark room at home.
Upon returning home with their successful catch, and with my grandfather’s guidance, they removed the fish’s eye and separated its lens from the retina. They then removed the lens from one of my grandfather’s cameras and made a funnel with black construction paper. At the end of the funnel they taped the lens from fish’s eye into place, and then attached both the lens and black funnel to the camera in place of the ordinary lens, thereby inventing and creating a “fish eye lens” before there ever was such a thing.
Together they went out into nature and took a bunch of photos with their makeshift lens, which they then blew up and developed in my grandfather’s darkroom. Impressed with the results, they submitted these photos to the local science fair, where they took first place!
Fast forward to 2011..
I had spent the last 15 years as a professional graphic artist, web designer and brand development artist, and had mastered photoshop, but I, myself, had yet to ever take the dive into photography itself. That all changed when, after an inspiring, life changing trip to Costa Rica, I realized how photography was something that I would undoubtedly enjoy. And so I bought my first camera, and with it, a variety of lenses including, you guessed it.. a fish eye lens.
I immediately took to photography like a fish to water, and having always also had a passion for extreme sports and skateboarding, offered to take photos at a local skateboarding competition. Upon adding my own creative touch to the photos, I posted them online, and got an amazing response …
A new passion was born…
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