Preface

Filled with passion, obsession, and excitement, my love affair with Canon SLR cameras began in 1977 when I spent hard-earned money on an AE-1 and a simple lens. With that modest but incredibly versatile "automatic" camera, I forged my way into photojournalism and a new way of expressing my interests to the world.

That camera, and the Canon bodies and lenses to come, served as a passport to virtually every corner of the world along with the people, places, and things I've been privileged to encounter, and a way for me to keep the memories of them alive. Even as I've pursued other interests, my Canon has always been a best friend ready to go anywhere at any time.

While working at Logitech in the early 1990s, I participated in launching one of the first digital consumer cameras, Fotoman, and it became apparent that the world of digital photography was looming large on the horizon. Then, when my professional life turned back to full-time photography in 2001, I realized that digital photography's proverbial ship had arrived in port loaded with goods and treasures.

I first used a Canon digital SLR, a 10D, at the 2003 World Fencing Championships in Havana, Cuba. Trading back-and-forth with an EOS film camera (which could handle fast action shots much better than my 10D), I kept working with the digital SLR and exploring its remarkable capabilities. That event in Havana was the last time I shot film, ending more than 25 years of reliance on slides and negatives.

I quickly acquired and grew into using the Canon 1D Mark II, which I knew was necessary for shooting a high-speed sport such as fencing. With it I captured thousands of images at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, including one that has become quite famous (see figure 9 in chapter 11). I knew then that digital was no longer an option or a possibility, but the reality and future of photography. Clearly, the products and technology of Canon were leading the charge and their announcements and developments promised to do everything possible to tempt me into spending as much time, money, and creativity as I had to explore and keep up with what they had to offer.

The world of Canon dSLR photography is one where you can never stop learning, where you will never find an end to your journey of passion, and where your own love affair will remain as alive each day as the day you first pressed the shutter release button. I am pleased to share the details of this romance with you in the form of this book, which is but a punctuation point in the living history of Canon and its remarkable contribution to photography.