When and how did you get bit?

[limr]

Ages 6-10ish, some cheap plastic thingie using 120 film. Have a few negatives from that era. (Age 6 was 1959).
Ages 11ish to about 16, plastic camera using 35mm film. Learned to develop film - Dad had a small darkroom (also known as the bathroom), and a little after-school activity in the school darkroom.
Ages 16-30-ish, Practica TL, 35mm camera. A "real" camera, f/1.8 50mm lens. With bellows, discovered macrophotography. With a microscope, discoverd micrography. With my 4-1/2" reflector, discovered the universe, solar projection photography, guided astro-photography... With IR film, discovered another world. And because the Practica had a rather useless lightmeter, learned how to use a Gossen LunaPro lightmeter, and how to estimate exposures by eye. One of my daughters has that Practica - think it is now moonlighting either as decor or as a paperweight.

Paul, I just got myself a Praktica! It's an FX-2. Shot a roll through it, all excited to finally use my Carl Zeiss Jena lens. As it turns out, the curtains are riddled with pinholes So I'm going to have to deal with that. They actually don't leak light in every shot, and sometimes they do but create some cool fairy lights. And then, other frames are completely ruined.

 

[pgriz]

Well, I can loan you mine. It's seen better days, and a few fake-leather skins should really be glued back into place, and the shutter mechanism is kinda wonky (1/500 sec may or may not be accurate to +/- 100%), and the viewfinder is about 4 stops dimmer than reality, but other than that, it works great!

 

[Trever1t]

Had my first camera at like 5 and at 11 had a wall of Kodak brownies etc...not quite as nice as Buckster's though. Had my first darkroom experience at 10 and was hooked. Having a pro grandfather kinda helped

 

[terri]

My husband was a photographer for the state of Georgia, then became the aerial photographer, then the photo lab manager, many moons ago. Different camera formats were always circulating through the house as he typically came directly home after road assignments (bridges, rail trusses, buildings - usually shot with a Calumet 8x10 field camera for the state archives) all throughout the state.

Eventually he bought an array of MF equipment and shot weddings, and I was his ignorant assistant. One time he handed me his Pentax ME loaded with high speed B&W, and asked me to do my best to get some candids of the wedding party and guests, with these instructions: "Don't shoot towards anyone standing in front of a bright window. I'll explain later." Most of that roll was crap, but I did manage a couple that were good enough to include in the package and I was hooked.

Later, he encouraged me to learn hand coloring the B&W prints as something a little different to offer clients, so I actually enrolled and took courses in a local photography school. That was my introduction into what is generally called "alternative photographic techniques," and I went on to become a Polaroid transfer/lift junkie, learned to process and ink up bromoil prints, and make enlargements with lith developers. My husband retired from the state job, got bored with shooting weddings, and now is stuck with his fervent little junkie. I have a darkroom at home now, and enjoy the tactile process of working with film and making enlargements.

 

[Rahb]

Well, I guess I'm still starting. I do this as a hobby, and I doubt I'll ever stop learning things.

As far as when I first began, my uncle was one of those hippy photographers that had to take photos at every event, and always had equipment. Always looked up to him. Got my first P&S 35mm film camera back in 5 grade (early 90's).

Took photojournalism in HS, and loved it. Uncle gave me some of his gear, and I just got rolls of film every chance I could (~1996/97). By no means was I any good (nor am I now). From there my wife got me a newer Canon Rebel 35mm film. I loved using it as a hobby, but developing the film was less and less frequent since that costs $$.

Purchased my first Digital SLR back in early 2000's. The first Canon Rebel Digital. I guess it was a 300D (trying to get one again for my camera shelf, it's the only camera I no longer have). Upgraded to a Canon 60D and most recently a 70D.

I have a few shots I'm personally proud of, but I haven't ever shared them on a forum, for fear that they will be critiqued and I will find out they suck lol.

Great hobby, and Even when the photos are just okay in my eyes, they are, at the very least, great keepsakes and memories. Never plan to go pro or anything, just want to constantly improve at my hobby.

Recently I have been taking photos of my wife as we are expecting. Bought my first strobe flashes, and I'm trying to learn how to use them effectively.

 

[Fred Berg]

There was a readers' offer in the 70's in the Daily Express newspaper (my parents' daily) for a very small camera. I got an advance on my pocket money and sent off for it. I bought the film at the local chemist's, and they also did the developing. I was 8 or 9 years old.

 

[Tinderbox (UK)]

My first SLR i got in the 80`s a Zenith brand with a needle on the top for a light meter, i did not like it and got a Practica BC1 and then a BX20 all with kit 50mm lenses and manual focus and then a big gap to i got my first digital camera a Sanyo compact with 0.3mp 640x480 resolution.

John.

 

[MRnats]

It was about 4 years ago and I was using my P&S to take pics of my wife because it was snowing out and we were bored. She liked them and on a whim decided "hey, we can use a DSLR to take pics of stuff and make it our home's decorations!". That really hasn't happened yet, but we did have identical twin girls last year that I'm always shooting and it's been a blast. Even got hired to shoot a baptism because my friend liked the pics i posted so much.

 

[bribrius]

I was in a multimedia class my sophomore year of high school. Over the Christmas break we were tasked with taking photos for one of our projects, so I picked up my mom's PowerShot something or other lol. I've never been a very creative person, but I got hooked on photography for some odd reason. Granted, this was 5-6 years ago, and I began with digital, so it might have been something about the technological aspect of it.

Then I began shooting for the yearbook since nobody else wanted to and it went from there.

Not really a spectacular beginning.

pretty much the same here but i did it in 1990 and instead of multimedia they called it photography and darkroom and we learned printing. I shot for the yearbooks but you wont even find a photo of me in them. Then on to a post photography class after high school. Not so sure i would say i caught a "bug" as i was shooting for entertainment before that and took machine trades and welding as much as photography and yearbook committee. And liked welding more. something to do.

 

[sm4him]

I've shared my story here before too, in various threads over the years, but I'll go ahead and repeat myself.

I always loved to create, but even by the age of about 6, I was what I'd call a "frustrated artist." I was the youngest of 5 very intelligent, talented kids--My mother was a gifted painter and craftspeople, my sister (just a year older) was really talented at drawing, and my decade-older brother was a highly skilled writer and artist, already seeing some pieces published. Hence, the "frustrated" part. My self-esteem suffered because no matter what artistic endeavor I tried, a parent or sibling was already way better at it, and I was not competitive enough to use that as motivation, so instead I just didn't draw or paint or write because in my mind I wasn't any good at it (that is, wasn't as good as the older sibs or parent).

Then at about age 10 or so, my grandmother gave me my grandfather's old Brownie Jr.
THIS old Brownie (sorry about the poor quality):

It was already about as beat-up looking as it is now, but suddenly not only did I have an artistic outlet, but I had a connection to a grandfather I'd never gotten to meet personally (he died several years before I was born). This cheap little camera had traveled with him as he worked government contract jobs in South America and the Azores and with every shutter actuation, I felt like I was somehow walking in his footsteps. In at least one way, I was. He wasn't actually that good a photographer, lol!!

Anyway, I loved that little camera and loved my new hobby. At some point, I moved on to little Kodak Instamatics, then for high school graduation I got my first SLR, an Oympus OM-10. What a lemon that thing was!! It was in the repair shop more than it was in my hands!
A couple of years later, I got the awesome Pentax K1000 (which I also still have), and got really serious about photography. Had my own darkroom and all that.

I wish I'd really stuck with it back then. But college, marriage and kids caused me to back off from really pursuing photography in any serious way. I had a variety of point-and-shoot cameras but only used them to take pictures of the kids and vacations, not for anything artistic.

Phase TWO of "The Bite" came in June 2010. One kid was in college, the other about to finish high school, and I knew I was about to be an empty nester. I refused to be one of those who just pined away for their kids. At the same time, I went with my sister on my first cruise, to the Caribbean. And all I had was a little Canon Powershot point-and-shoot. I took some decent pictures, but the whole time, I just saw all this opportunities for great photos and wished I could capture them better. My artistic vision was being reignited!

By the time I got back from the cruise, I knew that THIS was how I wanted to spend my empty-nester years, getting back to my "first love," photography!
I was a broke single mom, so it took another year to save up enough for a DSLR, a Nikon D5100. The rest is still history in the making.

 

[minicoop1985]

Well, here goes. My first camera was a Kodak 110 at age 6 or so. Those pictures are lost to the annals of history, I'm afraid. My first realish camera was a Kodak Advantix when I was 12 or so, but I was never really SERIOUS about photography. About 3 years ago, I dug up my dad's old Olympus OM-1n and started shooting film again. That's when the bug bit. I would start stealing my wife's Sony DSLR, and it got to the point where I needed my own. I ended up with an Olympus E-450, and was still regarding photography as a hobby. Then I started selling old cameras for a living and did the product photos for them, which led to me getting the 7D, and eventually brought me to the point where it became a passion and needed to be more than a hobby. This past year, I ventured into business on my own with some success (ultimately business declined), but now I'm working on getting a job with a local studio.

 

[Kane Adams]

At one point in the 1990s, when my father bought a Kodak film camera, at least as far as I can remember. Really basic stuff it was, good ol' point & shoot small red cam. So one day I took it and it I liked it.
Now I don't consider myself to be any good at it, but damn, it brings me joy to take photos.