Hello
So - where do I begin? Perhaps a beginning starts when I was three or four years old? I remember my dad having a darkroom in the basement of our family's first house. He was a rather serious amateur photographer, entering his images in the Kodak Camera Club's photography contests. He was quite successful, earning several awards, including the prestigious M.E. Russell Award in 1959.


I followed in his footsteps - no, not as an accomplished photographer - but by starting my own career at Eastman Kodak in 1978 working in the Research Laboratories. That was a great opportunity. Not only was I blessed to work with some of the world's foremost experts in film, optics, imaging, color science and other photographic fields, but I was able to enjoy a film and processing allotment provided to research employees. The idea behind this was that anyone who performed research and development on film and paper for Kodak should have at least a basic understanding of photography. Not exactly a bottomless pit of film, but what an opportunity! This wasn't my first exposure to taking pictures, however. My dad made sure I had a camera at an early age. And in my freshman year of high school, I was a member of my school's camera club.


Time changes many things, including photography. We're now well into a massive transition to digital photography. After 22 years in Kodak's research laboratories working with traditional photographic film and paper, I am now a software engineer. I'm still at Kodak, but now working in digital imaging, primarily with dye sublimation photo printers. I must admit - despite paying my dues in the darkrooms at Kodak, I much prefer the digital darkroom! The confluence of my experience with traditional photography, imaging research, software engineering, photographic printing and my dad's influence on me with his fine art photography have all seemingly left me with no choice - how could I not embrace this wonderful and creative new world of digital photography?


John Seelbinder