Photography By Ben Jacobi: August 2014

What do most teenagers save up for when they get a job? A car? Motorcycle? Truck? The first time I came up with enough cash to purchase something significant for my young adolescent life I invested. I didn't invest into stock or anything, but I invested in myself. I had always said I wanted to be a photographer and at this point I didn't have the equipment I wanted for the profession. I was currently using Kodak DX6490 ultra zoom camera. This thing boasted a 10x optical zoom (38-380mm), a 2.0" TFT display, and a whopping 4.0 megapixel sensor. It was a good learning camera and I quickly outgrew it. I would spend time playing with the limited settings the camera would offer and try to hone my photography skills. But I put my first $1000 into a DSLR camera--the real cameras! I spent a good while researching between the Canon, Nikon, and Pentax models. I finally opted for a Nikon. Nikon just always sounded more professional to me anyways. I took the money I had saved up and bought my first DSLR a Nikon D50. What I didn't realize yet was this camera would be the catalyst for my photography "career" and would ignite a creative spark inside me to explore and discover the world through a "true" camera lens. This camera would be attached to me for the next four years and with this camera I would win contests, get a scholarship, and even receive my first publication in a national magazine

Moonrise at Wichita Mountains. This image was published in the 2007 Summer edition of Nature's Best Photography Magazine.

I purchased the camera through an online retailer. I bought the deluxe package which included a Nikkor 28-80 G f/3.5-5.6 lens, a Nikkor 70-300 G 4-5.6 lens (which I still have), a 2GB SD memory card, and an extra battery all for $1000. In October of 2005 I got my Nikon D50 and I used it until March of 2009 when I upgraded to a Nikon D300. It has been passed along for family and friends to use it and it has finally returned back to me here in 2014. Unfortunately it has a problem with the shutter and is no longer operational. I got an email from the servicing center today stating that the camera has reached "EOL (end of life) and parts are no longer available. I will keep this camera with me for nostalgia. I put a total of 30,849 shutter clicks on the body and it served me well. Even though I get newer cameras with all this fancy new technology the D50 will still be a very special camera to me. I've decided to commemorate it by posting some photos captured by this camera. R.I.P. Nikon D50 DSLR...