Though i never got to use much of the one of my uncle, may be if i can remember correctly, it used to be more of viewing it through the top lens and see the world from a different point of view. The film was expensive with i think only 5 or 10 exposure each roll and so was processing.
The first time i really remember i got to do my own stuff with a camera was in 1978 during our family trip to Kashmir. Some how during that trip, mid way, my dad decided that i can be trusted with his proud possession of the Kodak camera and make my own mistakes. Some questions about manual aperture to shutter speed adjustments for the light condition and distance of objects and I was ready to shoot.
And there at the age of about 8 years i started capturing the world into the film for first time. It took long waiting to see the results, as we finished the trip back home in another couple of weeks and there after when my dad could make time to bring the film to the processor and another couple of week before we could finally see it. We shot with several rolls, few black and white and i think 2 rolls of color.
But when we got the results, black and white were ok, but the colors were horrific, the studio which processed it was apparently doing it for only few months and they messed up the blue tone of all the photos.
Of my first few photos, i could remember shooting this road side dog that looked very different as it was from high altitude and cold weather and some scenarios by the winding road side and valleys which were disappointing to say the least. Even though somehow most of the exposures were ok, started realizing how difficult it can be to capture the essence of a beautiful landscape. Specially with a 50mm and black and white. 
Next was my stint with my uncles Pentax K1000, that he let me borrow for few years during my junior college and first year of engineering. That was my real SLR experience and chance to really play around with the art and science of photography. This is the camera I started using for my first Kanha trips and other interesting adventures. Though limited by only the 50mm lens and budget for film and processing it was my fun and learning starter. During this time I also got to experiment with the dark room and fun of processing b&w prints by hand.
During the second year of engineering came across this opportunity where a doctor after returning from UK wanted to sell his spare camera Olympus OM10 with a 28-200mm vivitar lens other then the 50mm kit lens for Rs. 12,000. It was a huge sum but somehow my mom agreed to pay for it from her savings and I managed to upgrade my gears. It was like dream come true and that stayed with me for the next 12 or 15years.
There was a phase where I stopped shooting much films and did not have budget for real digital SLR, which it self was evolving, I bought a Casio digital point and shoot from Tokyo. That stayed with me and give lots of nice photo opportunity for few years.
And then finally I moved up to Nikon D80 2nd quarter of 2007 and since then building up on lens and accessories. Boy this is a never ending story and feeding the monster never ends. Only last week I bought the compact photo printer from Canon Selphy and getting a ND8 filter next week. But what can I say, its really fulfilling and fun.
A new addition to my set is my new tripod, its amaizing for its price to performance.
Another upgrade, sold my D80 with the 18-135mm and replaced it with the D90 body, also picked up the LowePro FastPack 250, in addition to the Slingshot 200AW I had before. The new one bit bulkier will be able to carry my laptop for out of town trips, though I prefer the Slingshot for shoots as it’s easy to carry around and not too obvious.
