What attracted you to photography?

Desert Rat

Desert Rat

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Steve
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Pretty simple.....why and what was it that made you want to take photographs? Why do you think you're into one kind of photography over another?

Forgive me if this has been asked before..

That's all.....(y)
 
For me it was the birth of our daughter and subsequent photoshoot. I remember watching the photographer and thinking I could do that.
 
I like taking pictures.
that's it mostly, don't even do much with most of my pics ..
 
My interest started when my first daughter was born.
It didn't take long to realize that a 1.3mp camera wasn't up
To the job of taking decent pics for my parents.

I purchased a bridge camera & then a 450d & it went from there.
 
Seeing my Mum using our Brownie 20 camera. It had TWO viewfinders, TWO! AND you could set the lens in some way.



Still haven't mastered using it!
 
Needed a new hobby/interest. After packing in djing I needed something else to do to fill the void. I've always been one to constantly have a hobby. Fishing, motocross, rc cars, mountain biking, djing(more of a living than a hobby), and so on. I can honestly say that I used to think photography was a bit "geeky", but buying my 400d is the best thing I've ever done.
I've always enjoyed a good landscape scene, so I guess that's why I'm more drawn to this particular type of photography.
 
Can't draw but like my own pictures on the wall! Dad was a pro many years ago so grew up (well, got older!) around cameras and saw what they could do.

Most of my pics are to evoke memories.
 
I always wanted to take good concert photos, but failed with the compact cameras I had. SO got me a bridge Fujifilm camera, which really sparked my interest, but frustrated me and held me back due to lack of a proper aperture. But yeah, I was getting some decent photos with it, so started saving my £2 coins for a DSLR and 6 months later got my D3100, which I've had for about a month and a half and I'm loving it!

And some of the photos posted here and online are fricking amazing, and I want to take photos like that!!
 
Parents bought me an old rangefinder back when I was 5, my family were all in the forces (RAF & Navy) so it was paramount that we always captured the moment etc! Every year dad would buy me a new lens or body from shops all over the world while he was on active duty with the Navy, he also had the same camera as me so we picked up on things!

I then moved onto digital in 2002 and was very miffy at first after using film for soo long but it's stayed ever since!

What attracted me? Family is the only answer ;)
 
For me it was a spur of the moment thing. I had recently sold a lot items on eBay that were taking up space at my home. I found my self with a couple of hundred quid in my PayPal account and nothing that I really needed to spend it on so started looking on eBay for something to treat myself with. I found a Sony A200 with a twin lens kit and bought it.
 
snoop69 said:
My interest started when my first daughter was born.
It didn't take long to realize that a 1.3mp camera wasn't up
To the job of taking decent pics for my parents.

I purchased a bridge camera & then a 450d & it went from there.
Click to expand...

Similar to me. I remember having a 35mm Pentax compact film camera as a kid, and took lots of pics as you do. Didnt really do anything in my 20s with photography, but got a compact around 2003 when digital cameras started to kick off. I could always compose a good picture, and around 2007 bought a D40, not sure why, just fancied having a good camera. It was when my son was born a year later I really got bitten by the bug!
 
I knew someone who took really cool pics at my old work, just general street photography and the like, and it's something I thought would be interesting to do. Didn't buy a camera though and a couple of years later I'd mentioned it a few times to my wife so she bought me a Sony Cybershot for my birthday. Spent a couple of years just messing about and didn't read up on photography but started to get some pretty great shots... got married but didn't like the pics the photographer took and thought 'I could do better' so bought a DSLR and started really reading up on and learning about photography.

That was only 2 and a half years ago and I am already starting to establish myself as a photographer in my region. Strange to think that if my wedding tog had been amazing i'd probably never have thought 'I could do better', so out of the crappy pics I now have to remember my own wedding it inspired me to go down the path I'm currently on... silver lining's and all that :)
 
I think it is because I think in pictures; I love cinema and I love stills photography - always have done.

I am extremely lucky that I now teach both subjects.

Spooks
 
I have a fear of being alive, don't like being alive, i can't cope with same old every day, I found photography to be something that made me feels alive, every day, it would be different (if somewhat similar), today it could be taking photos of a local gig, live music and such, next week it could be taking photos of a 'No Bedroom Tax' march, next month it could be an airshow, in a few months time it could be a sporting event, next winter I could be doing an outdoor fashion shoot.
 
I've had a camera, or the usage of one, since I was about 8 (I'm 38 now). Started with my parents hand me downs, then my dad got me a Praktica SLR when I was about 11, and we always took a camera or two on family days out. So I guess I've been brought up with it and don't know any different really.
As a hobby, it just grew out of that, primarily from when I went to a family event at my uncle's in New England in 2001, and I was disappointed at the pictures my little APS camera produced. I bought a decent digital camera in 2002, and I've never looked back really.
 
My love of photography started with a sad story. I was the youngest of 5 children, and my parents only ever took one roll of film of me as a baby......and then never got it developed!!! I grew up knowing that that old film hanging around in the drawer was where the only photos of me before the age of 4 existed :( On "Guess who..." days at school, where you had to bring in a baby photo so everyone could try and match them up to the relevant child in the class, i had to take in a photo of my sister :/ I honestly felt like my parents never really wanted me or loved me, because they couldn't be bothered to document my arrival or my childhood :( I started taking photos with my Mum's camera when i was a child (a Kodak disc camera :LOL:), graduated to my own camera, with zoom lens and everything (i thought i was the dog's doodahs :LOL:) when i was about 15. Then my sister "borrowed" it, and it got stolen when she was burgled, so she got me a new, better camera with the insurance money.

When i was 19 i had my first child, and i was determined to document everything! But i was working as an apprentice hairdresser, being paid peanuts, so the cost of developing film held me back a bit. By the time my second child was born, 7 years later, we had our first digital compact. I went a bit snap happy :LOL:. Then when i was in hospital having just had my third baby, a top of the range (at the time) Sony Cybershot turned up in the post :) I'd won it in a competition from a national newspaper. I loved the shots i could take with it, much better quality than i'd ever shot before! But in the end i wanted more control over what the camera did, so i sold a load of baby equipment and bought myself a secondhand Oly dslr :) It took me a year or so to graduate from Auto, but i'm so glad i did! My fave subjects are still my children, i still feel compelled to document everything, and i'm sure i always will. I'd rather have them going "Oh Muuuuuuuuuuum, not again!" and hiding from the camera, than growing up feeling like i did :)
 
Always had a bit of an interest in how cinematography can create a sense of something and to some degree manipulate the person viewing (The intro to The Shining is something that always sticks in my mind) - but... I'm not artistic enough to be good with a video camera.

I also can't draw to save my life, but I realised that photography gives me a way to be creative and I find that really satisfying.

I bought my first dSLR when I went on a "BIG" holiday touring the east coast of USA and I wanted to capture what I saw and experienced. Unfortunately I didn't have a bloody clue and so most of the 1,500 photos I took are utter dross... but there are a handful that are really good. Seeing the dross made me want to learn and try harder, and here I am today still producing lots of dross, but marginally better dross with an understanding of why they're bad! :)
 
My interest in photography was spurred by me getting into computers. I'd never used one at school, I'd missed computers going into schools by a few years, and I got a nice tax rebate one year which was enough to buy an Amiga 1200. After getting into the graphical side of it, as opposed to just playing games, I was always trying new things at image grabbing and altering.

Eventually I'd saved up the £832 for my first PC (out of the ark now) and carried on until I got my first digital camera, an Olympus Camedia C820 IIRC with a whole 0.81Mp, which cost the best part of a dslr these days.

I built up over the years as better models came out until I got my first dslr at xmas 2010, a Canon 550D, and I've gone on from there. Between the wife and myself we have around £15,000 worth of kit. I never thought that first camera would of cost me so much investment over the years, but it's been worth it for the photos I get nowadays.
 
LOL :p

I would also add that NatGeo had a big influence, dad collected it since he was a lad and I remember seeing some of the photos produced using film and couldn't get over it enough! I was also into aircraft (never liked cartoons as a kid) so I progressed from there, joined the RAF, ended up working for other employers but then became a UAV airframe design engineer for Lockheed Martin and then made my own aerial rigs that I sold to private companies - now pulling out of being fully employed and sticking to photography for good. Now have 32 weddings under my belt and still learning if I'm totally honest!
 
topless woman :D

Watched my grandfather for years and was amazed/hooked from the age of 7
Never wanted to do anything else, just a shame i took so long to take the plunge
 
My dad.

He used to shoot and process his own black and whites in the early 70's so as a young boy peering over the edge of the bath to see these pictures appearing in trays of water seemed like magic.

The shots he took of old blues men playing at Newcastle City Hall in the 60's inspired me to become a music photographer and him showing me a book of Winston Link images is why I shoot steam locos at night.

And I guess looking through a box of his 1960's street photography from in and around Newcastle gave me my love of black and white documentary / street photography.

So yeah. I owe it all to my dad really.


The thought of being able to shoot ladies without clothes never crossed my mind
 
Sad to admit it was the technical side for me. I got my point and shoot when I was about 9 or 10. I downloaded Paint.NET and started messing around with my images (DoF, Selective Colour, Multiple Exposure ect).

When I was about 13, I went to a school concert and decided to take my camera. There was a 'proper' photographer there, with all the kit. I was mesmerised by the fact that his camera had a viewfinder, and his images were appearing instantly on his LCD screen.

When I got home, the first thing I did was go on the computer and see where I could get one of these cameras. Of course all of them was out of a 13 year olds price range. So, I started saving.

Within about 6/7 months I had just over £100, still what seemed a million miles away from a DSLR. Luckily, my Birthday and Christmas is abut 2 weeks apart, so it was easy to ask my parents to combine my presents. I asked them and my family to not give me presents on my birthday, but help pay for a DSLR camera. With the gift money and my savings, I had enough for a 500D and kit lens.

Since then I have never looked back. Photography occupies a large portion of my life and I feel like I am constantly improving. In recent months however, I have almost completely lost my interest in gear. I care so much more about the final image than I ever did when I attended that school concert. I did eventually outgrow the 500D though, and traded it in for a 60D.

I now face a bigger battle however, post production. I still find myself editing my images way more than I would like (but thankfully my exposure seems to be OK). This summer, I am going to shoot on film, I think being limited to 36 images will help me no end, and no post production should advance my camera skills.

I don't know where photography will take me, but in 2 years time I should know. I will either put the camera in the bag for 3 years whilst I study Politics at university, or I will be looking to do photography as a living.

Either way, I don't think my passion for Photography will ever shrink.
 
My father...and the lovely sound the camera used to make as you wound the film round for the next shot. I always thought it was cool. Of course, my camera doesn't do that, but sometimes, when no ones looking, or listening, I make my own sound effect lol!
 
Some cracking replies! Some sad, some joyous, and some funny!!

For me I always wanted to own a nice camera, and I've always had a 'thwarted' creative side in me. I've been away from it for a few years but have just come back to it now with a vengeance!! I wish i'd discovered photography years ago.

I think it's a healthy way to have a mild mid life crisis (y)
 
I'm a sucker for technology. I love playing with gadgets. I had no interest in photos whatsoever.

Had a day off and went to Jessops.

£600 later I came out with a D5000 and that was it... I was hooked.

Although I like to think I have the ability to take a decent photo, annoyingly I still have that gadget person inside of me saying "you HAVE to have a new lens... or a new body...just spend money!!!" so I do enjoy the technology side of it.
 
The ability to make people see the world as I wanted them to see it.
 
Fit looking young women who (for some reason I haven't yet fathomed) are willing to remove their clothes in front of a perfect stranger and let them take pictures :D

Okay, frivolity aside, I've got no idea why I got interested in photography :shrug: Maybe it was the fact that my father was a photographer and I used to hang around his studio when I was very young ... who knows? Certainly not me.
 
Phil Young said:
I'm a sucker for technology. I love playing with gadgets. I had no interest in photos whatsoever.

Had a day off and went to Jessops.

£600 later I came out with a D5000 and that was it... I was hooked.

Although I like to think I have the ability to take a decent photo, annoyingly I still have that gadget person inside of me saying "you HAVE to have a new lens... or a new body...just spend money!!!" so I do enjoy the technology side of it.
Click to expand...

Ahh a fellow geek lol, same for me really, I love techie stuff, I have built my own pc's for about the last 10 years and from an old AMD xp athlon system it is now a Intel 3770k system all water cooled with some nice blueberry coloured water.

I am a big sucker for wanting stuff I can't afford, but will figure a way around it to get it somehow, sell this and that until I get what I want.

Getting a DSLR gave me a kind of new direction to focus on for now, love learning and testing what can be done with electronics.
 
Probably holding a complicated piece of engineering.
I'm a sucker for that.

Edit:

I just noticed that there are 79 viewing the equipment threads and about 10ish viewing each of the other topics...
 
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My father was a part time wedding photographer from the 1950s up to the 1990s. When I was ten he bought me an Agfa Isolette and when I was 16, gave me my first SLR - An Edixa Prismaflex (which I still have).

A few years later when he did a bit of camera trading of his own gear, he ended up with a spare Nikon FG which he gave to me (still have that too).

Until 2003 The FG and the Edixa were the only cameras I had but then I started collecting them and amassed about thirty. my father also started collecting at about the same time and bought cameras which either he had in the past or would have liked but were too expensive at the time.

I have now inherited his collection and added it to mine. His collection has better cameras than mine and I regularly take out his black Nikon F, usually with the 105mm f2.5 lens.

Others of his which I haven't used yet but intend to are a Rolleiflex and four Mamiya TLRs with a selection of lenses.

It's very possible that I like cameras more than photography.
Apart from the collection, I also build them. There is a link below to my 6x12 camera and I am currently making a folding 5x4 camera.


Steve.
 
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I first got into photography about 25 years ago. When I first met met my wife she was a model and I used to go to shoots and fashion shows with her. She always said she would like to learn the other side of the camera so I bought her a Ricoh camera. We both dabbled for awhile but never really got into it seriously. Over the years i used to keep myself fit with body buidling and I used to get out and about, mainly weekends, motorcycling. I had a serious motorcycle accident 4 1/2 years ago which stopped the body building and motorcycling. I was at a loss what to do when my wife suggested getting back into photography. So I bought a 7D and the rest is history. I mainly shoot landscapes/seascapes purely because I like to get outdoors whenever possible.
 
In 1960 I fell in love with the docks in Dublin and London (Surrey Docks and canal)

The next summer I was loaned a Box Brownie - hooked ever since.

I still like taking pictures of Ports and Docks and marinas and wharfs.

Did a cargo ship cruise a few years back. Days of ocean then a Port.

Really had a fun time with Melbourne - 2 days just offshore waiting for a berth!

Steve
 
In 2005 I went to Lake Garda with my now Wife :) before we went my father had bought a cheap camera (had to be charged via usb) and used SD card point and shoot.

We went for a day trip to Venice and San Marco tower with my gf/wife and was mind blown by the place and just wanted to take as many photos as possible as you do when anway.. the camera just didnt work at all had some card reader error :( Since then i wanted a better camera and to take semi-decent landscape/seascapes/Portraits.

Since 2006 owned my 400D and upgraded to a 5D Mark3 about a month ago :)
 
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