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DPChallenge Forums >> Photography Discussion >> What ignited your love of photography?
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04/22/2014 10:40:02 PM · #1
I took photography twice in high school. Never really got interested in it though, was mostly just a goof off class. Always loved wildlife and nature though, and as I got older I wanted to grab a piece of what I saw and experienced while out walking, camping and hiking. Had many many times where I saw something in the wild and wanted to know what it was, but my memory failed me in the details when I tried to figure it out later. Got a D50 with a kit lens, and wound up almost as disappointed as trying to remember details. A few lenses later and a small body upgrade, and I'm getting closer to bringing a piece of my adventures back with me as I remember them, and am getting much much better at figuring out what I see. Really though, I think its just an excuse to get out and adventure.
04/22/2014 09:52:51 PM · #2
This

My father had one that I used while hiking when I was 15-16. He then gifted it to someone to my disappointment. Later after 1989 I managed to buy one myself and took it to China. I have about 30 rolls that wait to be scanned. There was also a friend of my father, a real artist who's preferred media was BW photography. Portraits in natural light. He inspired my to grab the camera

He actually shot the young me in this pic




04/22/2014 08:01:52 PM · #3
Originally posted by ecmguy:

...I drove out to the middle of the desert with my camera and owner's manual and resolved myself to learn what every single mode, setting, switch, etc., of that camera was, and I fell in love with it..You see this a lot in the forums, but I owe so much to dpchallenge for making me a better photographer. The competition here is so great, and the fast turnaround of a shot to a large jury of peers is leagues above anything else you can find online. I often look at my first shot submitted on DPC in 2011 and look at my latest few and really appreciate the progress I've made since I've been a member here.


LOL on the learning the camera/manual inside out like that, I know my bf would approve! That's always what he's telling me to do...and yes, were it not for DPC I would probably still be rockin a 2.01 Samsung Digimax *shudder* and taking snaps as opposed to photos.
04/22/2014 07:39:03 PM · #4
I'm relatively new to photography--only been 'really' shooting for 5 years or so. Everything before that was the Kodak disposable camera :) My wife bought me a Nikon D60 for Christmas in 2008, and I've never looked back. I drove out to the middle of the desert with my camera and owner's manual and resolved myself to learn what every single mode, setting, switch, etc., of that camera was, and I fell in love with it.

Now here's when my 'love' became an obsession.... I got this lucky shot underneath a bridge in 2009 and submitted it to 1x--my first submission to that site, and it got published--Al Garhoud Bridge Then, my next 10 or 12 photos got rejected... It was the punch in the nose of rejection that made me want to be better.

You see this a lot in the forums, but I owe so much to dpchallenge for making me a better photographer. The competition here is so great, and the fast turnaround of a shot to a large jury of peers is leagues above anything else you can find online. I often look at my first shot submitted on DPC in 2011 and look at my latest few and really appreciate the progress I've made since I've been a member here.
04/22/2014 06:45:45 PM · #5
Caught the bug in 1958 when we lived in Switzerland for a few years. Phased out when we moved back to the USA. I was enrolled in art school, as a painter, in NYC when a friend came back from South Africa and left his Nikon F1 with me. I became enthralled with the "contemplative immediacy" of photography, the 2-stage aspect of it; the image is of an instant, but the WORK is open-ended. I went back to San Diego and apprenticed myself to a local commercial photographer, and photography became my art and my career. Eventually I burned-out career-wise and moved on to other things after a couple decades, but when I retired to Cape Cod the new world of digital imaging was blossoming, and I embraced it.
04/22/2014 04:35:04 PM · #6
My father....who had a large collection of photo equipment. I believe he enjoyed collecting it more than using it! I remember him taking some photos, but I think the attraction was acquiring it---old and new! So..I used it! I had lots of different brands to choose from...lots of different formats to play with..photo lights...flashes, etc.. It was endless! My father also got into enlarging photos and developing film too. So I had the opportunity to play with this also. We would set up a make-shift darkroom in his bathroom, and at one time set up a large dark-room in one of our bedrooms. I attended a semester at the Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale one summer ( before graduating high-school) what a learning experience that was---both with photography and life!! I was a journalist and photographer for my high school newspaper. I embraced photography in some form or another for most of my life...with active periods and some non-active periods. I feel comfortable with a camera in my hand...I feel alive with a camera in my hand...my mind is always composing shots with or without a camera. I can honestly say it has always brought me happiness!!
04/21/2014 03:45:03 PM · #7
The cute girls in High School took the after school photo class...and they made up 90% of the class.
04/21/2014 02:59:47 PM · #8
Always had a camera in my hand...yes, from the old Brownie onward. Dad was an enthusiast and I inherited his camera when he died, an old Canon SLR film camera. Learned a little darkroom action (b&w only). So, I guess I could say that I don't remember ever NOT being interested in photography. Never had any formal training...just shoot and learn. It's great capturing a moment in time.
04/21/2014 12:50:16 PM · #9
My dad was always in to photography, as were two of my brothers. I took it up in the Photography Club in 7th grade.
04/21/2014 11:36:23 AM · #10
When I was a kid, in the '60s, I was struck by the seemingly infinite possibilities in capturing images, from incredible landscapes (loved Nat. Geo.) to macro. Macro in particular lit my kindling, and my Dad stoked the fire. He did a fair amount of macro work, mostly with self-built rigs. I really didn't do more than snapshot photography until, in my teens around 1975, my Dad gave me the 1958-vintage Exakta body that he had used since the early '60's (still have it, still works). I started with a 50mm f/1.8 prime, later had a 35mm prime. I scouted around and picked up a couple macro lenses (Steinheil 35mm and 135mm) and I was hooked for good.
I saw the potential for digital and played with it as early as 1997 using at first a 0.7 Mpx Sony Mavica FD83 (floppy disks!) and later a Nikon 990 that we bought at work for documentation. Looking at the output from those cameras these days is a little painful! Hard to believe that less than a decade later I would be shooting with a Canon 5D, with results significantly exceeding anything I could expect from 35mm film.
Technology is still expanding the envelope of what is possible with photography, and I expect that to continue. It truly is a great time to be a photographer!
04/21/2014 12:23:33 AM · #11
Originally posted by cynthiann:

Originally posted by snaffles:

National Geographic. I would spend hours just going through them and reading the captions on the photos, they did and still do a fine job of telling the story.



As a kid I always said I wanted to be a National Geographic photographer. So same here.


Yes, this too, although I gave a different reason above.
04/20/2014 10:26:04 PM · #12
Originally posted by snaffles:

National Geographic. I would spend hours just going through them and reading the captions on the photos, they did and still do a fine job of telling the story.



As a kid I always said I wanted to be a National Geographic photographer. So same here.
04/20/2014 09:44:53 PM · #13
7-8 years old. Playing with dad's Pentax SLR. Look through the viewfinder, push the button, satisfying mechanical click sound. Then the zzzt, zzzt, of the winder. And then a week later, pictures! It was magical.
04/20/2014 08:51:41 PM · #14
National Geographic. I would spend hours just going through them and reading the captions on the photos, they did and still do a fine job of telling the story.

Also I know for sure that, as my mum took out the camera maybe a dozen times a year, took about 2 frames and called it a day, that I was quite frustrated with seeing the results when they finally appeared a year after being taken. I did have a little Kodak 110, and shot as much as I could with it. Of course back then you had to buy film and pay for processing, so for a kid on a $5 weekly allowance, it was a chunk of change. I did the disposable thing too but knew that eventually I wanted to be able to take a whole whack of pics and know what I was doing, and controlling the camera, rather than being at its mercy.
04/20/2014 08:47:05 PM · #15
I was a snapshot mom... recording our babies' lives... and then... Hubby said he was going to get me a digital camera.

I balked. In the most verbal way.

"There's no FILM?? No print?? WHY would I want some image on a disk... and no one will see it?"

He gave it to me anyway... for Christmas. I still was skeptical, but tried to be polite and... tried it.

Done deal. :D

04/20/2014 08:27:27 PM · #16
I always loved photography but never had a camera until digital came out..always worked off of a point and shoot just for fun, but just started making it a serious hobby recently. For the first time I have my first DLSR this last Christmas.

I always was fascinated with horses, wildlife and nature..
When I was little 6-7 National Geographic had those hard books about bees, whales, insects and a whole collection about nature and the earth, I was drawn by details of those photos and it was the National Geographic which inspired to make it a hobby to this day.

It is so fun to hear about your stories as well, it brings out a whole new nostalgia to photography and why we love it so much, I am blessed to have found a community to share it.

Message edited by author 2014-04-20 20:28:34.
04/20/2014 08:11:44 PM · #17
I got a brownie box camera for Christmas, I must have been about 8.... Dad was a pretty good photographer, so it probably got passed on! I still have a whole bunch of my 4x6 prints from that camera! humm they weren't 4x6 but they were long n rectangle, Fixed focus camera with f-stop adjustment... If it wasn't nailed down I shot it!!!
04/20/2014 07:03:33 PM · #18
Originally posted by PapaBob:



As a side story when I was 10 I entered a drawing, 1st place was a pony, 2nd place was $50, I was happy I came in 2nd that time also!


I think I would have been devastated to have 'almost won' the pony.

A big part of my interest in taking photos came from my infatuation with horses. When I was about 13 I had a box brownie and I traipsed around the neighbourhood looking for any horses to shoot. My father was cross with me for 'wasting film'.
Soon after I started working I bought a horse - and an SLR camera.

My horse, Cindy c. 1966/67 shot on slide film with my Fujica camera.

Message edited by author 2014-04-20 20:22:52.
04/20/2014 06:33:29 PM · #19
When I was 11 years old I entered a dog show contest with one of our shelties, the youth group was judged on how well they handled and showed the dog. 1st place was a silver platter, 2nd place was a cheap camera, I was never so happy to come in 2nd and loved taking photos from that point on. I had some experience a SLR film camera and enjoyed that but always wanted to get a darkroom so I could do my own BW processing. Digital has opened up the chance to do the PP and even though I love color images I still really like a good BW Photo.

As a side story when I was 10 I entered a drawing, 1st place was a pony, 2nd place was $50, I was happy I came in 2nd that time also!

Message edited by author 2014-04-20 18:34:48.
04/20/2014 06:16:06 PM · #20
After getting my camera which is a Canon T3i. I first dabbled in astrophotography. Taking pictures of the moon and planets and stars. Then I tried my hand at more basic landscapes. Mountain ranges, off shore pictures and stuff. I am not an expert which is why I do it for the hobby. But what I like most about it, which I learned while going out there and shooting, is the tranquility and peacefulness I get when in an area where hardly to no traffic exists. I love shooting at the various things and also making them my own weird vision through post-processing.

Doing photography challenges on here though has given me a place to show off my work. Though I am light years far from being close to anyone on here in their expertise. I submit my photos and I do what I can. I have gotten some great feedback and a couple of "to the point" smacks in the face feedbacks but nonetheless I continue.

:)
04/20/2014 06:11:35 PM · #21
Back in High School I took T.V. Production and Photography. I fell in love with both venues in that I could capture a mood, capture the scene, capture the action, and/or 'tell' a story. It was/is one way to give 'vision' to what ideas and thoughts swirl inside my head. Being on HS Yearbook staff was fun and gave me the opportunity to do event and candid photography. After I went to college and with my first job I just did not have the time to channel into it. It wasn't until my eldest child was born that again I picked up the camera to take family photos and vacation photos that I rediscovered my creative muse.
04/20/2014 05:33:09 PM · #22
Girls, actually. When I was 14, there was a hot girl at summer camp and I was a nerd. Taking pictures of her was the only way she's spend time with me.

After that I was hooked on photography … and girls, too, but I digress.

Instamatic -> Nikon SLR film camera(s) -> P&S digital camera(s) -> Nikon DSLR(s)

BTW - when I'm out and about now, shooting with my Nikon D800 - pretty girls still approach me to talk photography or have me take their picture. Even though I'm old enough to be their (grand)father. Either I've retained a measure of my youthful appearance and boyish good looks, or I seem feeble enough to be harmless. Evidence: I spent 30 minutes with Miss Nevada at an airshow a year or so ago. She'd just bought her first DSLR and wanted to learn. I was ready to teach.
04/20/2014 05:18:30 PM · #23
I learned darkroom work in camp at 12...then got an SLR a few years later--a Pentax Spotmatic. In high school I took photography, and was on yearbook staff. It was fun walking the halls with a Rolieflex and Yashica DLRs taking pics of people!

Did less in college, but I had my own darkroom through graduate school. I used to buy bulk Tri-x film and roll my own. :)

All in all, looking back, I wasn't very good at it back then though. But it was fun! I especially always liked the darkroom work.
04/20/2014 05:09:10 PM · #24
I am not totally sure. I was first into it as a teenager in the mid to late 70's, but at that time I think it may have been the technical aspects that interested me. I got back into it again around 2007 when I bought a better P&S camera to photograph my daughter's drill team performances and got bitten by the bug again.

At this point, I've found that I am not big on studio work or crafted photography and lighting. I've successfully merged my photography interest with the other one of cycling. (Of interest, a recent "upgrade" for my gear was backwards from most folks, going from a Canon 50D to a Rebel T2i because it carries on the bicycle more easily) What enthuses me about both interests can be summed up in one word: Exploring. My best days are those spent exploring new places with my bicycle and camera.

04/20/2014 04:19:18 PM · #25
I remember as a little girl, standing on top of the Zugspitze (probably totally misspelled) mountain when my dad was stationed in Germany, and even then, I remember being so overwhelmed by the beauty, and wanting a way to hold on to it forever! I think it was the beginning of my soul being stirred by the possibilities with photography. I just didn't recognize it until my hubby and I went hiking up some amazing mountains in Colorado (with my disposable camera)! When I saw the pictures (which promptly got thrown in the trash), I knew I wanted to learn to use my camera to capture what I really saw! It was an instant obsession that Continues to swallow me whole! :)
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