Why did you go into photography?

Great stories everyone!

Mine is kind of simple. I've always been a gadget geek. I liked the buttons and lights. I wanted to know what everything did as most kids do.

I remember my parents having a Cannon A-1 about 20 or 25 years ago. They would let me use it on occasion and I considered it quite a treat. I remember sitting in the back seat of the car and reading the manual on the way to an event.

I have always been intrigued by photography as an art. Each picture means different things to different people. Each person has their own take on what the photo means to them. From a portrait of a loved one to abstract images...each one can invoke an emotion.

Pictures are everywhere. You can't surf the net with out being bombarded by images. Each one different and unique. No two the same. That's one of the most amazing things to me...

I never really thought that I had a passion for it until I bought a decent camera. Last year I bought a D90 for a 2 month trip to Israel. I took a lot of snapshot style photos. There were a few that had a little bit more thought in them...I really had fun.

When I got back to the states I started to realize that I had a little more for photography and decided to take is seriously.

I'm still trying to find my style and my groove. Always working on it. I don't go to far without my camera any more. I just started a 365 project to push myself to the next level. I eat, sleep and breath with this camera next to me. It drives my girlfriend nuts!!!!

I am looking forward to what the next year brings and the 365 should be an interesting way to see my progress.

Keep shooting!

AJ
 
My first was the original "Honeywell Pentax" Spotmatic with a screw-mount f/1.4 50mm lens. I still have it and it still works!

I'm going to half to talk to my dad tonight. He used to work for Honeywell and I know he used to use a Pentax.


Good thread!

My dad wasn't a photographer, but I remember him playing around with different lighting, effects etc. My parents bought my and my sister a Kodak Instamatic for Christmas. I just loved taking pictures and tried to take pictures of my model cars and airplanes to make them look real.

While I was stationed in King Salmon Alaska in 1990, I bought my first SLR, a used Minolta X570 with a few lenses. I started taken pictures of my backpacking trips.

I really started getting more seriously into photography, so in 2005 I bought my first DSLR, the Canon Digital Rebel 300D. I was hooked, especially I didn't have to buy film. I'm currently using a 5D to photograph nature, landscape and wildlife.....and my kids!
 
Photography was in my genes. My mother got me into it at age 11 and I was offered pro work by the time I reached high school. The opportunity for creativity was what motivated me.

skieur
 
I sort of fell into it, sort of. It started about 6 years ago, when I went on a 360km cycling journey, with a little p and s film camera. I took 3 rolls of film to come home and realize that the photos I took sucked, but loved the feeling of getting out with the camera. That year , after Christmas, I went and purchased my first camera, a Canon Rebel G film camera. Eventually I went digital, and now have 3 cameras, lenses :er: and no money. :lol:

I do this for a hobby, and keep getting pressure from many around me to carry it further, but I just cant take that next step. Over the next year, I will shooting more horror, and street images, and working with some movie sets(mostly horror), so I will see how I feel after that. Maybe the horror industry will be kind. :mrgreen:
 
My Dad was always trying to get his Nikon's in my hands and show me how it worked, but I never really had the patience. I understood what the lightmeter was doing, and that I just had to pick the proper shutter speed and I would get an ok exposure.

I didn't understand depth of field or anything, but as I got older it was something that interested me. I started lugging his FG20 around whenever I went on a trip anywhere and shooting quite a bit of film. I loved the idea of photography, but I was still impatient about learning the technical stuff. Waiting for film to get developed annoyed me too.

Then, about four years ago I bit the bullet and got a dSLR and totally fell in love. I switched out for better lenses and bodies and then started shooting as a backup shooter for a wedding photographer I know. I liked it and eventually sold my car and bought a small pile of professional gear and got a job at one of the better wedding studios in town shooting and editing. I did that for a year or so, and realized that I didn't like the wedding industry. I sold my gear to get through some tough times, but I've been looking at picking up another inexpensive camera for myself fairly soon and just enjoying it as a hobby for now.

I've also studied photography at a college level quite a bit and have enjoyed that immensely. I would absolutely love to get back in the dark room. I may continue that education after I get a bachelor's this year to help me get into an area of photography that doesn't involve shooting weddings, but who knows.
 
I first started to shoot hot models too. Got that out of my system years ago and now I shoot beautiful Arizona sunsets. My first SLR was a Minolta 7000i and I still have it, but haven't shot film in years.
 
I was based up on Baffin Island working for an Airline. Not much to do up there and needed something to do other than rampant alcoholism... so I picked up a Fujifilm S5200 off eBay and started doing Aircraft Photography as the Airport I was working at is a stop-over before a lot of flights head over the Pond to Europe.

As I started learning more and more about Photography, last Summer I upgraded to my Rebel XSi and have loved it more and more. Trying my hand at other types of Photography but Aviation still wins as my favourite subject matter.
 
Pictures of the kids.

I probably had some other ideas as well at the time, but "getting good pictures of the baby" was what I used to convince my wife that I needed to spend that much on a camera, lol.

New kids mean new lenses now, lol.
 
When I was a kid... well, I wanted one, I got one after a while and... it just got stuck.
 
Like several on here it was my dad who inspired me to start shooting.I was 11.he gave me his Argus 3,when he bought a twin Rollie.i shot school papers and yearbooks.
my family travailed alot so i had the chance to be a "happy snapper" world wide never taking it very seriously.about a year ago i decided to get back into it.
3mos. later i lost my dad.(last April)so i plan to honer him with MY photography.
I'm still a noob ,but not for long,i study everything i can find,and spend all extra cash on related goods.seems every month turns a new Corner,and every new lesson makes a better photograph.
this year I will become a grandfather......restasured my grandson will have a camera as soon as he can make good use of it
 
As a child I always loved pictures and I did allot of drawing and so forth at that time. I took a photo class in HS but it did not enchant me as did the photo class I took at a University. Here is my blog link to exactly what thrilled me at that time:

shutter: October 2009
 

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