I ordered my first camera a 127m camera for 1.25 and three box tops of Pepsodent Tooth Paste.
In Junior High School and High School I was a Sports photographer for the newspaper. My first job out of high school was at a photo counter in a drug store.
I'm a trained portrait photogrpher, taught by one of the best in the nation. I worked for Eastman Kodak as a counter salesman and lens and camera repair techie.
In the service I was a combat photographer and shot first television films for NBC TV news.
I think I have owned and or operated every kind of camera made. And of course all this while I had my own labs.