Whats your story?

[crownlaurel]

My story:

I love looking at pictures. I love to "read" the stories in pictures. I loved to take photos with my first 35mm and when I went on a short mission trip we had a little photo workshop to teach us to shoot slideshows of what we were doing. One of the tips in that workshop was something about "Put a limb in it" and I remember that because we shot so many comical photos with someone's leg or arm hanging over it or holding a tree limb and laughing.


When I was pregnant with my first son, we asked the walmart photographer to take a picture of dh's hand on my belly. This was a completely new concept for him and over the next few years, I grew weary of having to stage the photos for every mainstream studio we tried (w'mart, Sears, JC Penney, Olan Mills, etc) and still not getting the results I really wanted. Since I couldn't afford to hire a private photographer, we bought our first advanced point and shoot and I have used it ever since. While it does a lot more than compact cameras, it falls short of what I'd like to achieve.

I believe a picture remembers things our minds can't and I want to capture that. I have pictures of myself at Disney World when I was 10. I don't remember being there, but the picture tells me I was and apparently I was having fun. Some of my favorite pictures of my kids are playground shots. I'd so much rather have a picture of my daughter hanging upside down on the swing than posed on a table with an abstract flower garden behind her, or of my son dressed in his favorite suit riding a bike with flip flops on than of him posed in a toy car on a brown backdrop.

I love natural shots and life captures. I like profiles, candid portraits and walking away photos. I like pictures of people who aren't always smiling and even a few of pouting or angry faces. I also love to take pictures of nature and buildings. There's so much I wish I could take pictures of (sometimes while we're driving down the road, I see something and wish I could shoot it...I'm imagining how to frame it and what angle I could get without risking getting run over by a car).

I've been encouraged by the parties of both the weddings I've shot (my dad's and a member of our church, both for free) to look into getting more serious and it's become sort of an obsession to read reviews and learn more and dream of a better camera. I'm embarrassed to say that I go to the Nikon picturetown site every day to look for the Nikon icon on a hidden page and enter the contest to win a D40, but I enjoy looking at all the pictures anyway.

 

[odway]

I don't really have much of a story as yet, but I hope in 10 years time a thread like this will come up again and I'll have more to tell.

My grandfather (who I never met) was an avid photographer. He was one of the first people to develop colour photographs in his darkroom at home, much before anyone else did (...or so I've been told). He had a real keen passion for it, and I don't know if there's a genetic scientist on this board, but I think I inherited the photography gene from my grandfather as there no one else in my family that shares the same passion to this level.

I've always liked taking photos, just using the family film point and shoot as a kiddie, then our first point and shoot digital. I didn't really realise my passion for photography until a lot of my friends started asking me why I had so many photos, and then it sort of clicked that not everyone covers their walls in photos of anything and everything. Last year I saved up my pennies and went out and bought my first camera, a D50, and I love it. I have another very time consuming hobby (horses) and along with being a full time uni (or college I think you call it) student, it's hard to dedicate as much time as I'd like to it... but taking photos on the side is something I love doing (and its generating a bit of income too, which is always nice) and I hope I can keep at it.

 

[JMercado]

I can't say what possessed me to go out and buy a DSLR and start taking photographs. It's been an enjoyable hobby for me that I can do on my own and relax while I'm not surfing.

For a job, I work in the USAF and got my start with entry level DSLR equipment from my enlistment bonus. I've still got a bit of money saved up, but I'm still waiting to see just how passionate I become before I start spending more serious money. I don't want my camera to sit around like my guitar that I've tried learning multiple times.. and I don't see it sitting around any time soon.

 

[DigitalDiva]

Took many many personal shots in my younger years and then decided at age 32 to get a degree in photography and learn the trade. I went to school in San Francisco for 2 years. My 2nd job out of college was working for Apple Computer in Cupertino, CA. A fantastic job where I shot all of the products (including emerging products that were yet to be on the market). Everything was shot digitally with a Canon Digital Rebel 6.3MP camera in a dedicated studio that was my own. It was a dream job.

I gave it all up for love. I moved 6 months ago here to the Netherlands and am looking for a job on any creative level. It's incredibly tough here as I'm not yet fluent in the Dutch language and creative jobs are hard to come by.

 

[hovis]

My aunt gave me a box brownie when I was around 8 or 9 (forget exactly when.... photography had only just been invented and I think Henry the Eighth was still on the throne. Yes I am 300 years old! :lmao: ) Anyway, could never afford much film or developing, so didnt get much prctice, though I loved it from the start. My dad had a Kodak something or other gathering dust, so I liberated that when I started secondary school, and started using it for my Art classes as well as recording field trips and such. When I left school, my first job was as professional yachtsman, and not having money to afford waterproof gear, sadly photography took a bit of a back seat, even more so during the family years, though I never dropped it altogether (even managed to win a couple of comps during those yers ). Treated myself to a Pentax, which my youngest daughter has liberated for use on her college work (Fashion and textiles). Now no longer married, still earning quite well, I nowadays have more time and money, so have treated myself to a D50, few bits of glass, then upgraded to a D200 last year, and a few more bits of glass (nice new 80-400 VR ) So still trying to improve, wishing I had more time to devote to it, wishing I lived somewhere with a better scenery etc. But I guess I'll have to put up with it :lmao:

 

[WDodd]

I loved reading everyone's stories, and while I still think that I'm close to the beginning of my journey I figured I would share anyways.

My family has always had some pretty nice cameras. My dad took a photography class in college and had gotten a Konica from his dad which I think is still laying around somewhere. My grandpa was always taking pictures there are boxes and boxes of slides that he took over the course of his life.

While no one in my family was a professional photographer it seems there is a history of hobbyism. My parents bought one of the first Digital Rebels right after it came out and I loved using that thing. Between that camera and the film Rebel G that they have I've just loved taking pictures of everything and everywhere we went.

As for me, my photographic passion continued to grow and I finally decided just this last December that I needed a camera of my own. I bought a Canon Rebel XT and have been taking pictures practically every day since then.

To me, photography is the perfect mix of art and technology. My mom is an art teacher/painter and I'm going to school for a degree in Computer Engineering and I really think it fits my personality perfectly. I'm looking forward to continuing my story and learning a great deal more!

 

[RMThompson]

Wow I read like the first 4 and now I going to post mine and read more later. Great thread!

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Service Merchandise was closing, with huge closeouts on their cameras. We bought one, an APS format decent little PNS, but I really wanted a SLR! So on my birthday, mere days before SM closed their doors forever, my wife surprised me with a Minolta Qtsi.

To practice with it, I would take everyone's pictures. My sister in law had me follow her around all her friends house at prom, and I was the designated camera handler at all events in the family.

Years went on and the Minolta couldn't handle the beating, and Digital was pretty cheap by now, so early last year I bought a digital, the Canon A610 I used until earlier this year.

My first "pro" shoot was when a girl called me, friend of my sister-in-law, to do "sexy" picture for her boyfriend. Once I started showing people they started asking me to take their pictures, offering me money, and earlier this year I finally upgraded to a DSLR, the D50.

That's really it!