How has photography affected your life?

[simonydes]

everytime im outside and sun is hitting something in a way that i like i take picture so i could share it with other people. i notice things a lot more, and i pay attention to every detail, sometimes it get weird

 

[Orgnoi1]

Besides making me broke?

I have been shooting photographer since the mid 80s... since the first day I picked up my Pentax K1000 for my HS class I was hooked... and loved the darkroom work as well as I did the actual picture taking...

While in the army my gear got stolen while on deployment so for a couple years I went without and there was definately something missing...

Last few years though I went back in with a full head of steam and I cant be happier again... photography is about capturing moments as much as it is capturing thoughts, feelings, and pushing myself to be good...

There is no such thing as a bad day of photography...

 

[brighteyesphotos]

Somehow, I just don't feel complete without my camera. Ever since I got my Minotla, it automatically felt like it was a part of me. Right now, I am limited by my lack of adequate income to truly build up my stock of toys that I want. When I have my camera, I am constantly thinking about how the world looks through the viewfinder and how can I share that image with everyone else. I have always felt drawn to capturing events more than I have to making art if that makes any sense. And in this day and age, there is so much to capture and not enough time to do it.

 

[KaraM]

Photography has been part of my life for the past 30 years. Photography has been my source of creative and artistic release, it has helped me see the beauty in this world that many people miss, and it has been the key in my remaining sane all these years.

 

[NYBrit]

I first got into photography over 20 years ago through my love for soccer. I would go to local soccer games with a cheap cartridge camera I got one Christmas and take the pics thinking at the time they would come out good but they were always blurry or there would be a colour cast or the players would be further away and smaller in the frame than I expected. I was always disappointed. Then one Christmas time having just got paid I wondered into a newsagent and came across a double edition of Amateur Photographer (an English mag) and bought it figuring that it might give me some clues as to what I was doing wrong. I took the mag home and read it literally from cover to cover and was hooked from that moment on! I'd no idea until then just how much was involved in photography.
I bought a Minolta compact camera first and liked the results then went on to buy a second hand Practika which I loved. I've never looked back since.
One of the things I love most about being a photographer is it really makes you SEE things! You notice the quality of light at certain times of day. You really see the sunset and the way the setting sun gives everything such a nice glow. Picking up that magazine is one of the best things I ever did and I wouldn't change it for anything.

 

[cherrymoose]

I think I first got interested in photography when I was 10 and we visited the South of France. My mom was all over the place, photographing chateaus and cute little towns. I always dragged along behind her, begging for a turn with the camera. But even more than that, I wanted my own camera. I would settle with a disposable camera--- I just wanted photos to call my own.

About two years after that, I received a Canon Powershot P&S for Christmas. I hadn't asked for one, but I remember that I was ecstatic. I immediately went and took pictures of my room, of my pets. They weren't much-- but for a 12 year old, I was excited.

Then there was a grace period, between that Christmas and August of the next year. I hardly took out the camera again until my Alaskan cruise in August. That's when I started taking "real" photographs, besides just landscape shots. Yeah, I got beautiful pictures of glaciers and other stuff from the boat, but I also spent a fair amount of time inside the ship with my Canon, taking what I called at the time "abstract photos". Of the chandeliers, of the balcony railing. Et cetera.
On the last day of our trip, when my memory card was full and I had to use the little "16 photo capacity" one for our black bear and whale watching excursion, I dropped my camera, and the case, into the ocean. I was completely devestated, since all of my fun "real" abstract photos were lost, but at least the little 16 photo memory card with the pictures of bears was safe.

Throughout the fall of that year (last year) I borrowed my mom's identical Canon quite a bit. And I actually seemed to take photos-- I'd lie down on the lawn and get macros of the grass. But it was never enough for me.

Christmas of last year, my grandpa forked over $500 for me to spend. The next time we visited BestBuy, I went straight for the cameras. I didn't even know what SLR meant, and all of them cost way over my budget, so I settled with a more advanced version of my Canon. I bought a Kodak Easyshare Z612, which I'm currently using. It's not great, but it'll do for now.

Just last month I stumbled across these forums. I think I wanted to look at someone's photo, but the site denied access to me since I wasn't a member. I decided I'd quickly join, look at the photo, and that would be it.

But after that I regularly started coming. And then I regularly started taking my camera everywhere.

It's hard to express just what photography means to me-- but I know that every picture I capture, if it's professional looking or not, means something to me.

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Haha, sorry. That was like, a personal narrative.

 

[silentrunning]

One of the best things it has done for me is make me more active. Now instead of getting home from work and hitting the couch, I now find myself grabbing the camera and heading for the river or the beach or the park. I'm spending a lot more time out doors and enjoying it too.

 

[Shutterbug]

Well I'm $60k in Debt from Brooks Student Loans, hows that

It's given me a career, which is arguably the biggest change in my life.

 

[nolatome]

I chose photography because it was the best job the U.S. Navy had to offer when I joined 9 years ago. They wanted me to go Nuke tech, but hey I was a theater major in college and I had to have something creative. My father was a navy photographer and he loved it. So I decided on that. They taught me everything there is to know about photography, except the creative artistic side. So I ran with that for four years. Moving from combat photojournalism to Wedding photography has been quite the experience. So with that background, my answer may make more sense. Photography has given me a friend who is always one step ahead of me, trudging this road to happy destiny. Providing me the means to get better but requiring me to find them on my own. What a beautiful challenge, I never thought I would love.

 

[Rebel]

Photograpy has me looking at things differently. From the way common items sit to sunsets. I look at it all in a different way.

 

[burtharrris]

I was always interested in photography, but never thought twice about it. Last summer, a friend of mine took me to some small gallery her friend ran. I looked at the crap on the walls by the current exhibit, Mark Borthwick, and thought "I could do a hundred times better than this jerk".

So yes, I was brought into photography out of spite. That night I dug out my father's old Canon AE-1, used up the old rolls of film I found in the bag, and never looked back. He had bought a digital rebel the winter before. I thought he was absolutely mad for buying an $800 camera!!! (I'm currently eyeing a $1000 Canon 20D, haha).

But here I am. I'm amazed at how much I have learned (and spent) in the past 9 months. I love photography, and no matter what I do, school, sports, music, dance, I can always relate them to photography to keep things fresh. I always have an SLR in my bag at all times!

Oh yeah and TPF has definitely helped me knowledge grow!

 

[justphotos]

i'm waaaaay more observant of what's around me. i can look at almost anything and see how it could look good in a picture. i see details no one even thinks of seeing. it's so true, as you said in the first post, how your perspective on objects changes completely. colors become sharper, and you just want to take a picture, and hang it somewhere.

 

[Alex_B]

i just have to say this is a very interesting thread

 

[davidbeck]

i choose it ,because i love it!

 

[DSLR noob]

i just have to say this is a very interesting thread

Thank you, I thought it'd be a good one and I have enjoyed reading all of these replies. I didn't think a 4-month-in newbie(me) could evoke such good responses, and I though it was crazy to say I see differently. I hope this thread goes on a bit longer, as I love reading these stories.