How did you start?

[Photo Lady]

I started getting into photography when i brought my collie boy home.. he was 10 weeks old and i wanted to capture his growth and beauty all through his life.. i have had many dogs in my life and i have 3 now with a possible 4th on the way.. but this Lucky of mine inspired me to another level and interest... i just couldn't put the camera down with him around.. and soon my camera obsession had a life of its own.. my first photo of my boy was an attempt at portraits.. he made a wonderful willing candidate for my practice..

 

[Derrel]

There have been some fantastic stories put forth in this thread! I have learned a lot about several of you, and really enjoyed hearing your stories !

 

[The_Traveler]

I was being sent overseas, after being drafted, to a strange and exotic clime and I wanted to record what I saw so I bought a Nikkormat and a couple of lenses. After my year there I was sent to Germany for 4 years and rapidly escalated through lots of different cameras - Mamiya TLR, Rollei SL66, eventually a Hassy and then settled back on a Nikon F (I could actually afford lenses.)
I fought the darkroom battles for years until family and sensitivity to chemicals made me give up any darkroom work. I fell back into P&S cameras until 1998 when I went to Vietnam with a film p&s and came back with enough film to bankrupt me but a renewed interest in photography so I started with digital P&S when I could.
I escalated again, through Nikons as far as D700 and then switched to mirrorless. I currently shoot two systems - Olympus m4/3 and Sony A7 III R mark 2.

My GAS has subsided somewhat but that it is a chronic disease liable to flare-ups at any moment.
I will be in Paris the latter half of September and Cuba the first half of February to shoot a bit.

 

[Michael Smith 12]

There have been some fantastic stories put forth in this thread! I have learned a lot about several of you, and really enjoyed hearing your stories !

I completely agree, I did not expect these many answers! <3

 

[bestazy]

It started when I'd look through all the scenic calendars and books at all the unbelievable places, mountain-scapes, waterfalls, lakes, forests, green and golden fields, early morning and late evening sky's, autumn colors, and snowstorms. I always would look through those and dream about going to those places and witnessing it first hand.
The world we live in is a naturally beautiful place and photography helps me see it, appreciate it, and enjoy some of the smaller things in life.

 

[ebyelyakov]

I always had it as a hobby, using some cheap film camera dreaming of Kiev or Zenit and using parents bathroom as a darkroom, working on film and prints with my friends.. Drying off the images attached to the kitchen windows to loads of anger from my Mom, who hated all the mess we were leaving behind.

After finishing the school, when I went to the Uni, I really dug into my hobby with computers but now landing a position with the Uni's publishing house and access to "powerful" PCs running Windows 3.11 and Photoshop 3... Before it had any layers... And when we got the PS5, I really hated the layers capability initially... At that time (mid to late 90's), Kodak point and shoot film cameras where quite ubiquitous same as the services to develop films and print the pictures.

Computers took me further the IT path, Photoshop was irrelevant and the early digital Minolta's offering 3 mpx or so for couple of grand where so uninspiring, I took a break for a few years... But, after relocating to Australia, a Canon G5 was the first thing I bought taking quite a lot of "decent" (standard is ever evolving) images... So I kept using it, moving to various compacts by Fuji, Panasonic... Then I met my wife to be who has been a photographer... And then, in 2013, it all clicked in place -- restrained but continuous use of cameras over the years, now stopping being lazy and venturing into the manual mode, learning studio lights etc, Photoshop, that I had to re-lean a lot -- the whole evolution happening between PS7 and CC... Conveniently Sony just released its original A7.. I believe I was one of the first Australians buying into the Sony Mirrorless story...

Coming from a strong technical and engineering background I pay a lot of heed to the digital part of photography - throughout the capture to post processing indulging in some geeky stuff -- be it PS, or lens-sensor related technology, colour spaces and gamuts, science behind human vision and perception and generally, the ability to understand, appreciate and create visual art... The journey is never ending and seems to be more with every new turn I make.

 

[NGH]

For some reason the order of things aren't clear in my rapidly declining mind; but here's how I think I remember it..
I had the usual 110 camera for holidays and things but started shooting other things around my house, my father gave me his old Voigtländer Vito B (without any explanation) and so I learned about the relationship between the exposure factors I then moved on to an SLR (a Zenit).

 

[Michael Smith 12]

You guys are all amazing (Y)
More power to our community! Super-inspiring stories.

 

[SoulfulRecover]

Cool idea for a thread and an interesting read.

I took a darkroom class in high school just because I heard it was an easy A. I was awful at taking photos and had no idea what I was doing. But I was really good at making prints in the darkroom and would even do my class mates work. I loved it and it seemed so magical. A year or so later my best friend wanted some pictures of himself taken and for whatever reason he tossed me the camera saying I was "artsy" and should do it. That prompted the return to photography. I starting taking photography classes at Colorado State and my sister started modeling at that time. I went along to some of her shoots with a local fashion photographer and that made me fall in love with portraiture. I dropped out, transferred to the Art Institute, dropped out, went back and dropped out again and have been hooked since hahaha. Although lately Ive turned my back on it a bit do to a shoot that did not go as planned at all from the very beginning and I am very disappointed in myself for it.

 

[Original katomi]

Ah darkroom.. brings back memories.

 

[StevenW]

Had an uncle in the Navy during the Vietnam war he took up photography because it was cheap to him and the ship had a darkroom. He brought some photos he'd taken, processed and printed. Now I never considered him the sharpest knife in the drawer and was amazed at his accomplishments. I figured if he could do it, so could I. I was about 8-10 at the time and didn't get a real camera until I was in college taking journalism courses. A photographer/reporter for a local newspaper befriended me because of my membership on the college paper staff. She was shooting a Canon A1 and that was the camera I first bought along with a 70-210 variable max aperture zoom. Soon after I found a Sunpak 522 flash kit in a pawn shop. Not long after I picked up a a deal on a Mamiya 645, a Vivitar 285 HV, and a Novatron pack and heads flash kit (2 heads). I shot a few small weddings and some portraits. The worst thing I ever spend money on was a Sunpak Mono light MS4000. I used it maybe twice.

I worked for a National portrait company for several years and was working my way up the food chain. Advanced to a supervisory role in a position titled Instructor. I traveled weekly and loved the job but had no time to enjoy self fulfillment projects and was in a non-compete situation. I got married and the travel was too much for the relationship so I left and went into an unrelated line of work. I continued to hobby shoot until I fell into what should have been a good deal, sport team and individual photos for a city league. I was ill prepared and got into water over my head. The parks department pressured me into a few days lead time rather than weeks I'd proposed in my contract bid. I paid rush fees for ordering material and send-home stuff and still did not have enough time to get the materials into parent's hands soon enough ahead of picture day. In the end I lost money on a sure deal. I was bitter, Sold all my gear, destroyed all my negatives and swore off photography like a drunk swears of liquor. Never gain, I said would I take a picture for money and if I ever wanted to photograph something I'd buy a disposable camera so I wouldn't have a camera to worry about.

Decades passed and my life took turns I thought only existed in horror movies. I found myself divorced and estranged from my children, I lost jobs went into a financial tailspin barely managed to keep up with my child support payments. Finally I found myself homeless, jobless and my car threw craps on me.

That uncle from the Navy? He had retired and had become a professional photographer and was successful in several endeavors. He offered me a job and a relocation (both were vitally necessary to my survival) so I flew half way across the country and found myself in the horse show photography business. Lots of things had changed moving from film to digital but the basics are all the same. The moment I held a camera in my hands, a certain peace came over me. When I was shooting, all my anxiety disappeared. I was able to get my feet back under me, even get some money put aside and re-invent my life in about two years. I left his full time employment and returned home and had a very successful 10 year run in the horse show photography business. I met a woman who shared my life interests and we've been together for almost that time and have been married for 5 years. I again have a studio's worth of equipment and have traveled a good portion of the lower 48 thanks to photography.

We had a setback a couple of years ago with the downturn in the economy. We've both had to take conventional day jobs while we regroup and figure how to re-enter a photography business on some level. I've been studying food and product photography.

Photography quite literally saved my life. Sorry to be so wordy.

 

[Michael Smith 12]

That's the most moving story I have read on this thread yet. Its amazing how situations led you to leave photography and how another situation brought you back to it and helped you rebuild.

 

[Solarflare]

When did your interest first spark in photography?

When affordable digital cameras hit 6 Megapixel.

Because back then I was clueless and believed like so many n00bs that all that matters for cameras is Megapixel and all that matters for lenses is sharpness.

Before that point, photography was always too much of a hassle to me.