How did you get started?

[www.photobucket.comwillno]

<p>Hey everyone :) i was just wondering what kind of storys we have out there of how you got started into photography. or maybe what cought your interrest or reasion why your still doing it now :)</p>

[michael_oxford]

<p>This is the simplest and most creative way I can put it.<br /> <img src="http://www.atozastro.com/my_equip/DS-60.jpg" alt="" /> <br /> <img src="http://www.cowineco.com/stuff/contentmgr/files/cbae0dbc5cdff16848c1214d23c2b0e3/misc/plus_sign.jpg" alt="" /> <br /> <br /> <img src="http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Arts/Arts_/Pictures/2008/01/11/canona1.jpg" alt="" /> <br /> <br /> <img src="http://th115.photobucket.com/albums/n292/sarahwentz/th_equal.gif" alt="" /> <br /> <img src="../shared/portrait-bits.tcl?user_id=3756020" alt="" /></p>

<p>I think you've figured out by now that I really have nothing better to do at the moment...</p>

[dave_s]

<p>I used to be interested in birds and wildlife. In 1979 I bought a Canon AT-1 and some lenses, to photograph the birds and wildlife.</p>

<p>Then I took up backpacking to get closer to the birds and wildlife. I started doing macro and closeup, and I used that to learn composition.</p>

<p>Then in the 1980s I bought a second-hand Graphic, and I started doing landscape. I still go backpacking to get to the landscapes. I don't shoot birds, wildlife, or macro anymore.</p>

[ronald_moravec1]

<p>I went to a friends house who just finished shooting a high school football game and he was going to develope the film. <br>

He put the film into a tank and the tank on some kind of timmed shaker that gave it some bumps every 30 sec or so. Out came the film with images of the football game. Seemed fascinating.<br>

His camera was a screwmount Leica , time about 1958, I was maybe a high school junior.<br>

I soon managed a Waltz Envoy 35mm camera with a 50 2.0 Nikkor lens that almost got me through college. When the film tranport would no longer cock the shutter, I took it to a small camera shop in Lafayette, Indiana where I went to school, and one of the people there was a Leica man. Pics all over the walls, Tri x and Rodinal. Some of the best stuff I have seen to that date. A Leica M3 and a 50 2.0 was around $400, way beyond a college student budget. I ended up with a a Pentax Spotmatic and 28/35/50/85/135/200 lens. I was working at the time and called Altman Camera in Chicago and had the sales person, Selwyn Schwartz, pack it all up and I went down and paid for it all. Altman is gone and so is every camera store in Chicago loop except for Central. It looks today just as it did in 1965, and it was well dated in 1965. If you stocked it some old folders and some large format, you could convince a customer it was 1925. But Donald runs an honest store with good pricing and modern equipment. A fews years back I needed a filter for a Rollie 35 with 3.5 Tessar. The sales guy turned around and opened a drawer and asked what kind did I want. For those that don`t know, it a 24 or 25 mm oddball size. <br>

Wolk, with many locations, is gone. Altman, the finest camera store I ever saw is gone, Altman morphed into World Camera by the Altman managers, Selwyn and another man, near Daily Plaza, which morphed into Helix on Orleans st, near north, then they moved to Racine and Jackson, where they did well for 10 years but are constantly shrinking now. There was another whose name began with S, maybe Sherman, they moved to north suburbs.<br>

Today I have La Grange Camera, Calumet, remains of Helix, and the internet, the photographers best friend. The big boxes all sell cameras, but I will not buy one from them. They will not even order a lens cap for you. Pox on them. They are all the same like Walmart. They put all the small guys out of business, but then they don`t offer the sevice you need. Their sale people know next to zero. </p>

<p> </p>

[brucecahn]

<p>1964, I was a sculptor who did woodcuts and wanted another print medium. I liked B&W photography because it had the best range of greys in printmaking.</p>

[User_276104]

<p>I had a Kodak Handle camera when I was 11 years old and loved it, but it took too long to save up for film all the time. I remember that instant film cost about $5.00 per roll of 12, I think. </p>

<p>Jump from 11 years old to 30 years old when I bought a video camera and ended up making scenic videos, most often "still shots". My brother had a Nikon SLR he wasn't using so I bought that from him and rarely ever used the video camera again.</p>

[acbeddoe]

<p>My maternal grandfather and my father both took photos, developed, printed, mounted and framed them. Someone had to carry on the tradition.<br>

I started with a Pentax, did B&W, pretty casual about it. After university, I got a Canon FTb (built like a tank) with a 50mm f/1.4 lens. Did B&W, color slides, snapshots; mostly nature and travel. I lost interest in photography for many years - until the digital revolution. I had an Olympus P&S and was hooked.<br>

I started in seriously with a Nikon D70 and have since gone through D40, D40x, D80, D300.</p>

[david_henderson]

<p>When I was about 8 a family friend bought me a tiny Brownie for my birthday, which stimulted an interest for a couple of years. At University, a couple of friends and my girlfriend of the time were keen, and that got me going for a little while. Then for maybe twenty years, photography was something I did on holiday with much enthusiasm, but didn't think about at all between vacations, though to be fair I had quite enough on my plate with other things.</p>

<p>What really got me going was I guess a coincidence of three or four things within a couple of years. </p>

<ul>

<li>A decision to reduce involvement in business, creating time to photograph and travel more, </li>

<li>Taking courses with some decent landscape & travel photographers and getting encouragement from them. </li>

<li>Switching from 35mm to medium format film, offering formats and a photographic process that seemed to suit me.</li>

<li>After a while being gifted a first professional assignment that carried on for several years and reached a size that neither party would have envisaged at the outset.</li>

</ul>

[Matt Laur]

<p>I realized, in Junior High School, that cameras help you talk to girls.<br /><br />Before I knew it, I was swimming in chemicals and processing miles of Tri-X. Yearbook photog guy, studio intern... man, the late 70's and early 80's suddenly seem like yesterday.<br /><br />Getting into web content and consulting revived my interest in quickly handled photographic output, and it was back in with a vengence. But a camera's always been handy since I was a kid. Being an IT guy, the back-end half of working with digital equipment was completely painless for me, so I was able to concentrate on the newer tools in comfort. No looking back.</p>

[bangengeman]

<p>I started with my mom's Nikon FM. Took some snaps, and everyone in the family noticed how comfortable I was setting the darned thing (for a 10 year old). Whether or not the guys in the lab had to make miracles on the film is something I will never find out. Fungus got to the lens when I was in High school, and never got to photography again till I got to work. So after a gap of about 8 years, I started working in IT, and got to go to Japan for a project. I saved up some of my Per Diem on a Canon S2 IS, and after a few months, got better on composition, eventually had a better understanding of lighting, and taking advantage of switching ISO on the fly.</p>

<p>Eventually it came to the point that a P&S was not going to cut it for me, and got an XSi, the dual-zoom kit and a 50 1.8 (the cheapest 3-lens set I can think of with good enough quality). I still keep the IT job, and shoot during weekends or at nights if I have the time and energy. I don't think I'd ever turn pro, nor would I think I'd want to -- for now.</p>

[Leroy_Photography]

<p>When I was a teenager, my father gave me a Ricoh 35mm he had purchased while stationed in Japan. I used it to take pictures of for our school newspaper. Black and white--I loved it. Before too long friends were asking me to take portraits and weddings. I soon learned that was not enjoyable. My first venture into sports photography was to take photos of our high school football team during summer practices (I was a senior). They thought I was spying from an opposing team, so I never tried again. I was going to pursue photography as a life work, but I fell in love, got married, put my hubby through school, started a family, and life just happened. The expense of such a hobby wasn't sustainable on our salary, so it was put on the back burner. But I did I enter and win a few contests here or there. When our son became involved in varsity sports, I purchased a digital SLR and have never looked back. Many opportunities have presented themseves since then, but nothing that could support our family. I love sports photography more than anything else. If I could make a living at it I would.</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>My mom gave me a box camera and beginner darkroom kit for making contact prints when I was 8 or 9. It was all downhill from there. Four decades later my photos are just as bad, but with much posher gear.</p>

[johnny_anderson]

<p>I was a model railroader for about 30 years and got started with photography taking pictures of old railroad equipment. I needed documentation photos for scratch building model railroad cars and structures. I used a bunch of different cameras both 35mm and 21/4 pro gear. But eventually settled on Canon SLRs and used them for nearly 30 years.</p>

<p>A few friends saw my work and liked it and asked if I could take pictures of their kids. That lead to taking school pictures for my daughters 3rd grade class. That lead to doing some wedding photography, which then lead to doing some model portfolio work. Word of mouth was the cheapest and best reference that I ever had. 40 years later I'm still taking pictures but now just for my pleasure. </p>

<p>My wife has Parkinsons Disease and I'm her 24/7 caregiver, plus I work a full time job managing a Self Storage Facility. We have an apartment attached to the office, so it allows me to fulfill both rolls. I needed something to get away from the caregiver roll for a little R&R. I had quit photography about 14 years ago and my wife was always after me top start doing it again. So last year I bought a Canon S3IS and then got the urge to get a DSLR. Bought a D60 this summer and just sold it and bought a very nice used D80. Photography is a great stress reliever for me and I really like taking pictures again. The benefit of DSLRs is that I can shoot as many pictures as I want, something I couldn't afford to do with my film SLRs. I am enjoying the learning process with both the camera and PSE6. Learning keeps you young!</p>

[nickjeftic]

<p>My motives for starting were purely egoistical. 3 years ago I was the Sales Manager for a cruise company and the owner wanted to produce a new brochure. Photos were taken by a "renown" painter / photographer and in my opinion they were absolutely..... which I bluntly expressed to my boss and the artist who cynically replied: "Well why don't YOU show us how to do it!<br>

So I went out that afternoon, bought a Oly E-500 kit, 4 books on photography, visited some web sites (that’s how I stumbled upon PN), made a few phone calls to pro friends and 3 days later went cruising. Finally most of the brochure and web photos selected were mine.<br>

My biggest gain from the story is that I got interested in photography as a craft and in visual expression in general.</p>

[matthew_newton]

<p>I've always been somewhat interested in photography. In college my Dad gave me his Olympus OM-1 camera my Junior year, I shot a roll with it and then forgot about it. Then I was getting married and talking with our wedding photographer combined with heading off for a trip to England made me break out my OM-1 again and brush up quickly (to quickly) on basic manual camera photography (no working light meter). I took a 50mm and 135mm lens with my on the trip (only lenses I had). I managed a handful of good photos out of about 300 so I swore to improve (and I loved playing with the camera). Before my honeymoon I got a 28-85mm f/3.5 lens no name lens off ebay and then didn't test it much before leaving...my mistake. At least my photography skills themselves had improved and I knew sunny/16 by heart at that point. The no name lens vignetted horribly (IE looked more like circular fisheye cut off), but I didn't use it much and I came back with a double fistful of nice images.<br>

Since then I have been steadily improving my technical skills and my photographic eye. These days I'd say I probably end up with at least 3-4 images on any given roll of film that I really like (and that at least most people seem to think are nice pictures) and basically all the rest are at least technically perfect even if they don't excite me to much. My gear has also bloomed from that first pair of lens with 2 working camera bodies and over a dozen lenses and still slowly and steadily growing. I've pretty much only been an 'avid' photographer for about 3 years now.</p>

[chris_waller]

<p>I lived the first twelve years of my life just over the fence from the exchange sidings (marshalling yard) of the local colliery. I spent my childhood watching coal trains rumbling and clattering past. Then, in 1965, a man by the name of Dr Richard Beeching said that all the small, unprofitable branch lines had to go. As ours was ripped up, I was moved to take a few photographs. Thus began 40-odd years of photography.</p><div></div>

[denise_d]

<p>My parents had some sort of camera when I was a kid, which fascinated me, but I was never allowed to touch it (too young). When I was about 8, my Dad came home from a visit to my Grandmother's house with a box which he later handed to me - his old Kodak Brownie Hawkeye camera from when he was a kid. I was thrilled. Took millions of photos of my cat....I used that camera until I finally wore it out about 5 or so years later. After that, I had a variety of point&shoot-type film cameras, until I purchased a Pentax K1000 right after I graduated from High School. I had that body, the 50mm lens that came with it and a 70-210mm lens I bought a couple years later. I still have it and it all still works. I added a used Nikon FE and a couple of lenses about 10 years later. I took a couple of photography classes at a local community college just so that I could learn how to develop film and make my own prints. Once I gained those skills, I felt like a proper photographer :) I picked up a very used old Mamiya and a single lens at a garage sale and experimented with medium format for a while, but even though I have had temporary darkrooms in the basement and the bathroom off and on over the years, it's always been very frustrating to have to depend mainly on the guy at the photo shop to process and print my photos. Then digital came along. I started out with a couple of little Nikon P&S models but moved on to a D70s and a nice Macintosh computer, Photoshop and a decent Epson printer. Finally, my own darkroom! I've since added a couple new DSLR bodies, some new lenses and a flash or two. Photography is still as exciting to me now, at 45, as it was when I was 8 and my Dad gave me that Brownie. (I still occasionally take photos of the cat, too, but I like to think they are somewhat better exposed, better composed and better lit than the ones I took as a kid...)</p>

[ramsdell photography]

<p>As a kid I always took photos with what ever point and shoot I could get my hands on. Once I got to high school I took the photo classes offered because I wanted to be like my big brother. I kind of let photography slide for a few years until college when I took some more photo classes, became the lab assistant for the dark room, met my best friend who got me shooting for the school paper (my first assignment was a women's swim meet, who could resist lol) From there he helped me get a job at the local newspaper that I worked at for 3 years, not a bad job to have while in college. Now I just shoot for myself, picking up the occasional side work. would love someday to get back to photography as my primary job.</p>

[the celt 2]

<p>My father was abit of a hobbiest, and there was always a darkroom in our basement. He shot with a Kodak 35, or he would drag out his Speed Graphic to do once a year portraits of my brother and I. Once he tried his hand at the Marshalls oils to put "a little color" in the shots. We both ended up looking like rejects from clown school. he has since given up all photo. He thinks it's "pointless", but thankfully I've retained the love of it. I also spent 4 years in the USAF as a photographer.</p>

[billy_sprague]

<p>I guess I really got "started" in photography in the Army. I enlisted, in 1975, as a "photographic laboratory specialist" and cross-trained into combat photography. Being trained in photography by the Army is probably why I remain a lousy photographer today.</p>

[www.photobucket.comwillno]

<p>these are great storys, photo.net should totally make a book with a second about "how i got started" haha and then put all the best photos from members as well :P</p>

[sknowles]

<p>Interesting stories, thanks. Me, I wanted to meet girls. It was 1969. I had enlisted and was serving in California. A friend bought a camera, so, using the service discount I bought a Minolta SRT-101 with a 58mm f1.2 lens (still have both and working) and enrolled in a local community college photography class. It worked. The girls didn't last, but the photography interest did. Go figure, or better, go shoot.</p>

[steve_lantz]

<p>Like a lot here it started for me as a young kid. I always enjoyed taking pictures. I started getting very serious about it in the late '70s and by 1980 I planed on going full time pro, even had a partner lined up and was getting a fair amount of business.</p>

<p>A family issue came up and I had to scrap those plans. I still did some shooting but only occasionally, the dark room and a lot of gear was packed away.</p>

<p>Zoom forward to about four years ago. I was heavily into flight simulation and started painting my aircraft in Flight Simulator. Photoshop 3 didn't have the features I needed so I bought Paint Shop Pro. At the same time I had an older digital Oly P&S that I had used for some stuff I sold on Ebay and I started playing around in PSP on photos I took with it.</p>

<p>The bug bit me hard. I bought a Fuji S7000z and started messing around. I love B&W so a lot of my stuff was converted. Since then I've added a 30D, G10, Photoshop CS2, and loving it. I'll soon be retiring from the job I planned on quiting back then and maybe I'll try to pick up some extra money with the camera, and maybe I won't. As a hobby I love photography but I'm not sure I want to make it a job at this point in my life.</p>

[Norma Desmond]

<p>...</p>