I was trying to figure out what camera I was using back in "those days" for these shots. For the picture of Bernadette, I was using a Nikon F2. Can't remember the lens but it looks like the 50 F1.2.

For the Harvey, Molly and Annie shots, I had moved to Canon and that was my Canon 1N with a medium zoom, 28-70 F2.8L. For folks who have gotten into photography after digital became the medium of choice, it's difficult to understand what it was like to take pictures and then have to wait a week to see the results. And, often, the prints were at the discretion of the lab that printed them. If you purposely over- or under-exposed a shot, they'd "adjust" it for you. But think of it: no chimping. You had to know what you were trying to get and how to get it. If you were using selective focus or trying to throw a background out of focus, you had to preview using the depth-of-field button. The closest thing we had to instant feedback was taking Polaroids of the scene and checking our lighting that way.

And, with the Nikons, there was no auto-focus. You actually had to turn the focus ring! Why . . . it was almost like . . . PHOTOGRAPHY!

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of progress especially that of technology. But there was something special in visualizing an image and then finding out that you had done the correct things technically to create it. Think about action photography and weddings in that kind of environment. Scary huh?

Jim