Whats your story?

[blackdoglab]

well then.... my car's name is buster

 

[usayit]

10 years old... and my story started with this camera:

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69296

My mother was the first to inspire me. I was always the designated "family photographer" on our trips taking photos of my family and I enjoying ourselves. On one such trip, I actually took the time to composed snapped a photo that was no other like the rest.... it didn't have anyone in it.... it was a photo just to showcase the wonderful landscape. I believe it was a photo overlooking a river from a bridge. My mother saw the one photo when the pictures arrived and said "Looks like a nice postcard!". She eventually used just like a postcard and sent it to a family friend with a message on the back. I remember feeling really good about myself...

 

[mysteryscribe]

I just bought a 7000 to use if I need to shoot anything in low light. Seems to be a fine camera actually

 

[oldnavy170]

I don't have a background in photography. No one in my family ever took photography or even owned a decent camera. However when I was in high school I was always jealous of those who took photography. I wish now that I would of taken those classes well over a decade ago!

I found this site last year and since then my photography has taken off. I have learned so much and I take each bit of advice and use it to better myself. I do hope to someday make a career out of this but if I don't then at least I am having fun trying.............

 

[oldnavy170]

Oh by the way.......I loved reading everyones stories. This is a great thread.

 

[Seefutlung]

mmmm ... In grade school my cousin and I were shooting, developing and printing film shot with my Uncle's Mamiya Sekor. By the time I was a teen I had graduated to Nikon Fs and FTNs and had this romantic vision of working as a photo journalist. At 16, I ran away from home and ended up in Vietnam where I shot for UPI. A year later I came back home to SoCal finished school (college) and went to work for the Times and Orange County News.

When I hit 30 I decided to get a real job, making real money. Hung up the Nikons and worked in Cable TV. Got bored with cable so I started a few companies and then sold them when they became successful. Got married, had kids (two incredibly wonderful, gifted and beautiful daughters), then divorced. For more than a decade just took snaps of the kids.

About three years ago got an Oly 20-20, my first digital ... then an Oly 50-50. Two years ago a 20D ... I remember the first time gripping the camera ... this wasn't a P&S shutter lagging toy ... this was a real camera ... all the years of news ... all the stories ... all the places ... all the memories of a different life flowed from that camera back into my life. My passion for photography was re-ignited and I've never looked back.

I am still a neophyte in digital ... but I've been told I haven't lost my eye ... I can still tell a story with pictures ... capture the defining moment. Of late, I feel my digital skill level is at a point where I'm thinking/dreaming of calling up some of the ol' magazines I've shot for and maybe see about, once again, doing something significant with my passion.

Gary

 

[craig]

My first memory is getting a Polaroid Land for christmas when I was 3 or 5. Need less to say it sat on a shelf after the first cartridge. Near the age of 13 my Godfather gave me a Rollei 110 and I fell in love leather case and all. At 15 I had my own darkroom and decided that photography was going to be my life.

Life basically started when I got into SVA in 1986. That experience channeled my passion and opened up the world of Art. For us during that time NYC was our playground. Work wise I somehow fell into Home Fashion photography. Worked in large studios with 3 to 12 other photographers. We built bedroom room sets and shot 8 x 10 film. A good example is the photo on the package when you buy a comforter or curtains. Slowly I began to hate photography. Never picked up a camera to shoot personal work.

Moved to Jackson, Wy in 1994 and those bad feelings started to fade. I shot a couple of rolls of 2 1/4 film. Was not until I bought a Contax with the collapsible lens that things started rolling again.

Around 1998 I landed a job at the now JH News & Guide in the pressroom. I neglected to mention that the Graphic Arts has always been my "fall back". I reluctantly ended up shooting all their advertising photography. Now in addition to that I am photo editor on all special sections. I also run a slightly thriving freelance business.

Currently I embrace photography. Shoot a lot of personal work and have a show at least once a year. Keep on the education twice a year at "Photography on the Summit". I get to go for free. The News & Guide is a major sponsor.

Should also mention that I joined TPF in 2003. That has been a strong inspiration.

Love & Bass

 

[Hertz van Rental]

I got my first camera when I was 11 - a Kodak Brownie 127 which I still have.
Torn between the Arts and the Sciences I made a wrong choice and became a microbiologist. A friend rescued me after a few years by getting me to moonlight as a Graphic Designer so I went to Art College. Here I discovered 'proper photography'.
Unfortunately I had to work to support us whilst my ex-wife went through College, but then it was my turn and I went to Bournemouth and did a Degree in Photography.
After that I worked in Photography in London working and/or getting drunk with the top photographers of the day. I started in Advertising and moved into Editorial, taking pictures of the rich and famous and being published world-wide. Numerous exhibitions (including work shown at the Photographer's Gallery), work in several London Museum archives, several advisory posts at same Museums (Photographic conservation and restoration) and similar things.
In the 90's I moved into teaching for a number of reasons* and did a post-Grad, set up quite a few Photography departments, designed darkrooms, wrote courses (up to Degree level), taught History of Photography and on the way showed rather a lot of eager students how to see the world in photographic terms.
After my fun-filled divorce I became a retired banana rancher who enjoys being ignored

*My liver told me it was the wise thing to do.

 

[RKW3]

For me it started when my family was about to go on a trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. I was bored of playing videogames as my hobby D), so the thought of getting a camera popped into my head.

I had 200$ saved up so my dad drove me down to the camera store. Then I bought my first camera, and I've loved photography ever since.

 

[brighteyesphotos]

My grandfather was a hobbyist photographer. He had a great old Nikon that he used along with a couple lens. His pictures won a couple local awards. When he passed away, my uncle got his camera because he was the next "serious" hobbyist. Me, I was 19 and just starting to get into photography. My uncle never thought I would want the camera. I fiddled a little while in college the first time but nothing seriously.

Then came along my ex-husband, marriage, and kids. With my first son, I had just a little point and shoot and I wanted more control over what I was doing. Managed to talk my parents into buying me a Minotla Maxxum film SRL for me in 2001. Been shooting ever since. Right now, I'm back in school, getting two degrees, one in business and one in photography. I'm also working on making photography a full time career but I also know I'm still learning and with each session, each shot, I learn something I could do differently and better.

 

[darich]

my grandfather was a keen photographer and has thousands of slides in his loft and spare room. He doesn't shoot any more though.
I've always had a camera from when i was about 12years old. Some cheap Halina fully automatic thing. When i left school i got a good paying job and started buying hi-fis dvds cds gadgets and all sorts....but never a camera.

When it came to my 21st my parents were struggling to think of a good gift for me because i had good money (still lived at home then) and anything i wanted, i bought myself. I decided I'd like a camera. I chose a good one (in those days) - a Samsung 1050AF. Could do things like exposure compensation and longer shutter speeds but it was still a point and shoot.
After about 4 years i decided to upgrade - First real camera. I went to a local shop and thanks to the shopkeeper's advice and a special promo at the time i landed myself a Canon EOS 500, couple of lenses, leather case, book, films and even a couple of filters in fell swoop.

After spending over £50 on developing film on a return from holiday a few years later, i decided to go digital and went for a 3.1mp Nikon coolpix 885. I've since upgraded that to a Canon A85 and the Canon EOS 500 to a Canon Digital Rebel, then a 20D and currently a 5D. I've added lenses along the way so not everything was bought at one time....thankfully!!!

Incidentally, i still have the Samsung but never use it. I'd never sell it because it was a present although i doubt it'll be owrth anything until it's about 200years old!!!!

 

[Jeff Canes]

My Mon & Dad just took family snapshots mostly vacations and parties. Dad has always preferred the Polaroid. But they also had film cameras I have the negatives. Most of the family snapshots from the 60’s seem to be Polaroids including my baby and totter pictures. And as Terri said those odd Polaroids still look good.

The family seems to have switched to a Kodak 126 Instamatic in the early 70’s. This is when my earliest photography memory starts. Recall being at Disney World maybe 1973. I was about 8 at the time my Mom gave me the camera for the first time to take a picture of Goofy. By the mid 70’s I was taking most of the family snapshots. The only photography classes I’ve taken were for two years in high school 20 plus years ago.

 

[Nein-reis]

My story is sorta short for now... My dad always loved photography they say he was born with a camer in his hands. My mother and my father split up when I was very young but my mom still ended up with many of his photos. I grew up with a curiosity in photography, always playing with cheaper film cameras and flying through 20 rolls everytime we went on a family vacation. When I got older I took a few high school photography classes and found a real interest in my fathers photos. In college I took a few entery level photography classes when I was working on my graphic design degree. When I graduated I shifted most of my time into my work and then my son was born. Well I've had a grea job for a while now and with my son reaching 6 months I'm able to persue my photography interest again. My son is close to 10 months now, I have an DSLR ok collection of lens's. And I just started my first year of my photography degree, I believe it will help me grow as a photographer (of course) and really go well with my Graphic Design degree, opening up more career opportunities.

 

[Garbz]

Grandpa bought me a point and shoot rangefinder when I was about 4 or 5 and could hold it. Dad went digital when I was 15 and there was a spare Nikon FE and lens collection laying around. Last christmas I went overseas for 3 months and decided spending $3000 on a D200 is cheaper than developing 500 rolls of film when I get back. That's how I got to where I am

Personal Ad: I'm 22, single, a university student / tutor about to start a thesis on electrical engineering. And I can only afford this hobby because I spent the last 7 years looking for a quick buck, i.e. I ran a web design business back when it was still possible to charge $30/hour for doing something very basic. I like long walks on the beach, and I have a very hard time not laughing while writing this last sentence.

 

[sabbath999]

My college degree is in Journalism, with an emphasis in photography. My student job was as the staff photographer for the Public Relations office in the college, doing a lot of sports photography as well as a ton of grip & grins.

After college, my first job was as a photographer for a small daily newspaper. Next, I took the job as the editor-in-chief of a small town weekly newspaper, where I did all of the photo work.

Since I was putting my wife through college and the weekly newspaper didn't pay a living wage for two, I did wedding pictures and studio work on the side. I sold all of my wedding and photography equipment years ago. I pretty much gave photography up, only taking the occasional snapshot with a digital camera.

I had a MAJOR case of photo-burnout, but now I have gotten back into it.

So there you have it. Not that anybody cares.