What in tarnation got you into photography?

[FeuerFrei]

The nooky? (0_o)
For me it was a fortuitous upgrade to a new camera whose output looked like art. Thus inspiring me to pursue photography for it's own sake. Capturing art around me. Just a hobby for now.

It was back in 2011, before I cared about photography, I picked up a Samsung TL500 fixed lens point-and-shoot (a.k.a. an EX1). It was more enthusiast-oriented than my Powershot because it featured a larger 1/1.7" sensor, max aperture of 1.4, and a fully-articulating lcd panel. It was surprisingly good in low light, sans flash, and sans any built-in stabilization. Felt solid in the hand, as it was made of metal, and was overall larger and easier to handle than your typical pocket-size point-and-shoot with tiny buttons. Which encouraged me to use it.

My general approach to replacing equipment is to upgrade, and I've since moved on to an Olympus E-PL6. A huge step forward in sensor size.

 

[corkyg]

I was a kid in 6th grade and my dad gave me a Kodak Brownie for my birthday.

 

[FeuerFrei]

I was a kid in 6th grade and my dad gave me a Kodak Brownie for my birthday.

Was it delicious?

I started out in film myself - 110 film initially. But nothing about the process evoked any interest in me. I was just documenting occasions.

 

[corkyg]

It was black bakelight,127 roll film. I think this was it:

https://www.cooperhewitt.org/2016/08/30/21213/

After that, I had dad's hand me downs. Next came the old Kodak 35mm (no rangefinder), and lastly a Leica IIIC. Then I got into SLRs with Minolta. Did my own film processing until I went digital in 1996.

 

[MrSquished]

a girl

 

[luv2liv]

i saw photos done by Suze Randall. simply stunning

 

[CuriousMike]

1 A friend at work bought a D40 and I saw "bokeh" demonstrated in real time
2 My dog
3 Posting photos of my dog on FB and gettings lots of likes pushed me to do better ( vanity )

 

[Thebobo]

Photography in Jr High. Parents gave me an old twin lens reflex camera. Took some crappy pictures and developed them.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I always kinda liked taking pictures but not more than that. A coworker who was into photography had a Nikon D7000 for sale and I decided to buy it since I always kinda wanted a DSLR but not bad enough to really actually do it. Decided to buy it with all the accessories he had for it and got into it. I'm still not super heavily into it, but it's still something fun to do. I have a thing for long exposures, like night sky, I think it's neat how you can capture so much even in the dark.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

Was looking to get into a new hobby and saw in the hot deals thread a few years ago Canon's refurb black friday deals. Bought a t5i and just been messing around ever since.

 

[spacejamz]

I have been playing volleyball for awhile and attend alot of pro events and started taking pictures...I wanted to be able to take pro quality pics but I had no idea of what I was doing...

Here is a comparison of a shot I took at the Chicago AVP in 2009 with a one I took last weekend at the Manhattan Beach AVP...

pic on the left (pretty sure I was shooting in auto mode since I had no idea what the different settings were):
Sony A350 / Tokina 80-200mm
image size 3056 x 4592 / 72 dpi / bit depth: 8

pic on the right Sony A6300 / Tamron 150-600mm / LA-EA4 adapter
image size 4000 x 6000 / 350 dpi / bit depth: 24

 

[Paladin3]

I have been playing volleyball for awhile and attend alot of pro events and started taking pictures...I wanted to be able to take pro quality pics but I had no idea of what I was doing...

Here is a comparison of a shot I took at the Chicago AVP in 2009 with a one I took last weekend at the Manhattan Beach AVP...

pic on the left (pretty sure I was shooting in auto mode since I had no idea what the different settings were):
Sony A350 / Tokina 80-200mm
image size 3056 x 4592 / 72 dpi / bit depth: 8

pic on the right Sony A6300 / Tamron 150-600mm / LA-EA4 adapter
image size 4000 x 6000 / 350 dpi / bit depth: 24

The only recommendation I can make is to shoot at a shallower DOF to blur the background out a bit more. I used to shoot a lot of sports at F2.8 with a 300mm or 400mm lens, but I was lucky my paper supplied the gear. And maybe crop a bit tighter in on the action, especially the top and right. Too much crowd pulls the viewer's focus away from the action. I'd almost crop down to the ball. Otherwise, it's solid work and a nice improvement over number one.

 

[Paladin3]

I went to community college in Southern California way back in 1986 to study computer science, but took a Pascal class and said "screw this." I'd taken a photography class my senior year of high school and liked it. Then I took a basic photography class and the only other non-artsy course the college offered was shooting for the school paper which I did for three semesters.

I was a rather relaxed student, dropping classes and unsure what I wanted to do for a career. I never dreamed I could get a job shooting photos, but a friend got a gig freelancing for the local newspaper so I applied and got hired on as a lab technician. Six months later I was promoted to photographer, not knowing what the heck I was doing, with an old Minolta X370 camera, a 28mm, 50mm & 135mm lenses. I quickly borrowed some money for a Canon T90 and F1n bodies, with a 24mm, 50mm, 135mm/f2 (gosh, I loved that lens) and 300mm/f4 lenses and a flash.

I got lucky and there were some more experienced photographers who taught me a lot or I would have drowned. I had a ear for listening to the police scanner and chasing news, but it took years before I became a decent photojournalist able to identify and tell the essence of a story with images the way I really wanted to. When I was younger I only wanted to chase actions and never really got into more important stories, which I feel ultimately weakened my portfolio and limited my job prospects.

All those photographers I learned from went on to bigger and better papers, and I jumped ship for a somewhat larger paper but it was still a mid-sized community paper in the suburbs. I applied but never got on at any of the large Los Angeles metro papers, even though I was contributing to AP at the time and getting published nationally and even overseas on occasion. I'd won a few awards by that time, but never really worked at marketing myself the way I should have. After 14 years I hung it all up because I was married with three kids and newspaper photojournalism doesn't pay very well.

Now, way too many years later, I shoot Easter Bunny, Halloween and Santa photos at the local mall, as well as the occasional senior portraits. I do some work shooting local pee wee sports, team and individual photos, which is fun as heck. Sometimes I'll see news around town and shoot a quick photo for the local paper, but they don't pay anything due to having zero budget for photography.

During the summer I work for the city managing our local lakeside concessions. And I fish a lot.

 

[Brainonska511]

I think I always liked taking photos - especially when you could capture something in a unique way, or just preserve a memory. For a long time, I only had a simple point-and-shoot; in college, as I was no longer playing a musical instrument, photography seemed like a good creative outlet, and so I got my first dSLR - a Rebel XT. The rest is history.

 

[Red Storm]

Wife wanted to start a mommy blog, so I decided to start learning how to take photos. Ended up loving photography.

 

[tenthumbs]

Photography got into me. I was given a Canon AE1 when I was in grammar school. But no instruction of any kind. I couldn't understand why my photos all looked terrible because that was a pretty good camera at the time. The Canon ended up being set aside and I didn't revisit photography again until college when I started travelling. I don't remember what camera I used but I shot hundreds of photos (film) for the rugby team I played with while on tour. Apparently I had a knack for it and my photos were very popular. I got my first digital camera - a Canon point and shoot - when I began doing multi day hikes. One year at Christmas my wife bought me a cheap Pentax Kx DSLR and the hook was set. After 6 months I bought a Nikon D7000, multiple DX lenses (regretfully) tripods, etc etc. Now I'm on a D750 armed with a bit of knowledge and some filters. I'll never be famous for photography but having a hobby that will last a lifetime is a blessing.

 

[shortylickens]

trollops, so I could fap later.

 

[IronWing]

When I was a kid I was fascinated by the fact that cameras could produce such amazingly sharp images when the world was so fuzzy (turns out that I needed glasses, no lie). My dad taught me to use a fully manual Kodak rangefinder camera with a handheld light meter. Film was too expensive for a lot of experimentation so I didn't feel the bite then. Then he taught me to use a Canonet (G-III 17 QL) rangefinder with built in light meter and I was hooked. Travel photography was my big interest. I bought my first SLR, a Pentax K1000 SE, in college and acquired a few lenses for it. I shot a lot of Ektachrome slides then as it was cheaper than print film, particularly with bulk loading. Later I got back into print film when Kodak came out with Ektar 25. I was living in Tucson and in the desert sun the film produced incredible color. Travel and nature photography were still my main interests. When Kodak stopped making the film my interest in film photography died with it.

I didn't get interested again until Nikon came out with the E990 split body camera which provided excellent image quality for the time and very good macro. I've had a series of "enthusiast" compacts over the years. I do a lot of hiking and hardly ever use the DSLR that my wife loves.

Seeing condors a few years ago got me into bird photography. We bought a spotting scope which has been great for nest watching and shore birds. Now I'm trying out birds in flight which is a whole new world for me, lots to learn.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

I got tired of trying to explain to humans what I was seeing, or rather how I was seeing things. A picture is worth a thousand [great] words, IMO. I got started in 1985 with film and only moved into digital somewhere around 2005. Being that I had a lot of B&W and color darkroom experience, the world's move to digital left me with a sour taste. First, I found a lot of people early on as the P&S generation which meant they had zero training. Then the tools were limited for the digital process. I don't think I really seriously considered digital worth anything [beyond P&S] until maybe 2010. But it is still amazing how many people take pictures haven not taken a single minute of instruction. Instead, it is easier to put their camera on program mode and shoot and when that doesn't work steal the work of someone else. While I still miss the darkroom days, my tibias don't.

 

[jhansman]

Long story: back in the 70s, I lived in Culver City, CA, then home to MGM studios (among others). One day my older brother called me and said, "I just got a new Canon SLR and a couple of lenses. Let's sneak into Lot 3 (where many, many classic MGM films were shot and was by then abandoned, now a community college) and take some pictures." At this time I knew nothing about photography, so as we wandered through set after set, my brother explained the fundamentals of aperture, shutter speed, and focal length. That was all it took; first time I tripped the shutter, I was hooked. My wife and I took a class at the high school we graduated from, and 40+ years later, I have several of my own shots framed and mounted in my living room, given to friends and family as gifts, donated to auctions for a variety of causes, and I still love it. I can't afford the new equipment, so I shoot with what I have, and do my own post. Next to music, it's my favorite art form.