So when did you start photography?

[JSPhoto]

After reading another thread I saw someone else began their photography late like myself and I was curious when others began.
I started 5 1/2 years ago (seems like 20 years though) at 41...OK, no "old geezer jokes now!"
And I started with a Polaroid Digital P&S that cost $150....boy have my cameras changed since then!
JS

[Peter_AUS]

I started seriously myself only about 4 years ago myself at aged 48 (yes no geezer jokes either), and have been a member here since early 2003 when I stumbled upon it. This site has helped me a lot and there are many supportive people here as well, as I am sure you realise and others do as well.

My first ever camera was a Kodak Box Brownie, wish I still had it. I bought a Pentax camera some 25 years ago, but didn't really use it that much had two lenses but still didn't use a great deal. The lenses now have growth in them but they really aren't worth anything to anyone and I kept the camera more as a keep sake.

I purchased a Canon EOS30 in 2000 and found that development was restrictive to me due to costs in Australia and also lack of income. I purchased a Kodak digital camera, which was really a point and shoot, someone had won some money to spend at a store and she knew I wanted one so she bought it and sold it to me at a reasonable price, given that it was $700 I paid I think about $500 for it. Never really like it that much as it was limited in use and chewed through the batteries.

2001 I think it was I puchased a G3 and that never really meet my needs as I wanted something that was more like a real SLR camera. I waited and waited and then decided that the family could buy me a 10D for 50th Birthday so I got that in 2003 and already had the lenses I bought for the EOS30 I had. So I have stuck with that.

Now I am into Studio type work and trying to learn that better and hopefully might start to make an income again from that if possible before I die.

At present I am on a small Disability Pension and that just doesn't stretch to the needs of Photography does it.

[Axle]

Okay, so I realized I'm one of the younger members of the boards....

I've always been interesting in technical things, such as cameras, computers, ect. I really didn't get into photography until I was in my final year of high school (Grade 13, this was before Ontario stopped having a Grade 13 in high school). I was taking a media english course and one of the parts of this course was a unit on photography. Not having an SLR or good camera myself, I was put into a group with a couple of guys, one of whom had brought in his father's Nikon SLR. Well I loved working with the camera. Each group got a roll of b/w film. After we had shot it off, we learned how to develop it. That saturday I bought a 1969 Minolta Hi-Matic 7s at a Garage Sale. I proudly showed it off to my teacher.

It was actually a year later or so, Fall 2002, that I brought that camera to the PYPS Convention weekend to take photos of the activities there (http://luyckxnet.no-ip.org/luyckx_tk/con02.htm). Time went on and I really started to look at my photos seriously on how to improve them. I was using as a guide the photos taken by the infamous Rob Ellis, who would always take really good shots at PYPS weekends. And slowly I started to improve. Then in 2004 I bought my first SLR camera, a Minolta SRT-102, and happened to stumble across this site in my wanderings for information on the camera, plus I was bored one day at work....and didn't having anything else to do. I went through three rolls of film that sucked on the SRT, I had to get used to figuring out all the manual settings. The SRT was quickly replaced (Late May 2005) with my current SLR the X-7A. It was with the X-7A that I started getting into a cross over hobby of Urban Exploration, and learned how to do really cool artsy shots with the help of the guys over on Urban Exploration Resources. And now, well my most recent camera is the Konica Minolta Dimage Z2, which suppliments my X-7A.

[payn817]

In January 2005 I lost a job as a general manager at a restaurant. I went into depression (it was my first job), and got with the wrong crowd, and looked to meth to help me forget that I was undereducated, underexperienced, and about to loose everything. In May, after being unemployed for 3 months, and just starting a new job, a settlement came from my former employer. With that money, for some reason I decided I should buy a digital camera.

I got a Nikon Coolpix 3200. About a week later, I took a trip to north Georgia, snapped some shots, and thought they looked great, so posted them here. At the same time, I realized that I needed to leave drugs alone, and the feedback I got from my photos was my new drug. I spent still kept using and trying to get a better camera. I traded a Minolta 7000i in July (got it at a pawnshop for $75) for a Kodak DX 7630. At the end of August, the drug addiction won and both the nikon and kodak found themselves in a pawnshop.

Less than a week later, i regreted making that move, and it was painful. I was so ashamed, I told everyone that it broke and was out for repairs, hoping they would forget, and i would get a new system. Shortly, McDonald's came out with best buy bucks, and thanks to everyone putting in a few of em here and there, I got my current slr, a Maxxum 50. By this time, the drugs were gone for good, and two weeks later, on a whim, I called the pawnshop, and they had sold the Nikon, but still had the Kodak, and I went and got it back, and aquired two lenses there for the minolta also.

So, the answer in short, about 6 months.

I am glad this thread came along because this site, and hobby is what helped me to turn my life around, and his thread gave me a reason to state that. Now, if I get that urge for a high, I find a nature trail, or an old town, and run a couple rolls, and forget about the drugs.

Sorry about the long post, and hopefully noone thinks less of me for it, we all make mistakes and go through some tough times...

[Speed]

After reading another thread I saw someone else began their photography late like myself and I was curious when others began.
I started 5 1/2 years ago (seems like 20 years though) at 41...OK, no "old geezer jokes now!"
And I started with a Polaroid Digital P&S that cost $150....boy have my cameras changed since then!
JS

I was about 12 years old, and my father asked me to take a photo of him and my mother with his polaroid. A year or two later, I got a Kodak 110, complete with flash cubes. A couple of years later, I got a new 110, and this one had a built in electronic flash! I thought I was in heaven. Over the years, I've had several P&S cameras, mostly Kodak's, and even a Disk camera (remember those?)

About four years ago I decided I wasn't getting any younger and I was going to get myself an SLR. I looked at what was available, read the reviews on PR, and decided a Nikon N80 was what I needed. Christmas of 2001 my lovely wife got me the N80, a Nikon 50mm f1.4 and a Quantaray (Sigma) 70-300mm f4-5.6. I saved some money and bought a SB-28 the following March, and I've been learning ever since. I was amazed at how little I knew about photography!

Since then, I've added a Pentax K1000 with a couple of lenses for night work, and a Nikon F5, which I love for shooting sports. I carry a Coolpix 5700 (which I convinced the county I needed for taking work photo's) and it's my version of digital. It's a very capable little camera, but I will be adding a DSLR to my collection...

[JSPhoto]

payn817,

Wow, you sound like me in some ways. I was seriously depressed before taking up photography, and since climbed out of that and stopped eating vicodene as if it were candy. It took me 6 years to realize the pain was still there whether or not I took the pills. Having arthritis in every joint plus numerous injuries over the years just added up over time. I stopped the pills last year and although I am in constant pain I'm a happier person, well until this morning when I couldn't sleep because my shoulder popped out of place while sleeping Waiting on a call to go get it put back right now! Oh yuk...gotta wait til 3:30! OUCH!
Hmmm, who'd of thought of photography as a way to get off drugs? Hey, it's helped two of us!
JS

[Chunk]

I think I started photography as a young kid reading National Geographic, Life, and Look magazines among others. I took some pics with cheap cameras as a kid too, but was severely limited by the expense of development and printing.
I got started more seriously about 1980 after getting out of the service. I borrowed a friends Spotmatic for a day trip into Washington DC while working in Calvert County, MD. I was hooked and bought a K1000.

[Lava Lamp]

I got interested in photography 11 years ago when my son was born. After a year or two of shooting really bad photos with a $20 point and shoot, I bought a fairly capable Fuji point and shoot with a zoom and was amazed at the quality improvement. I bought a Minolta 300si on clearance at Target for $99 about six years ago. The 300si was an SLR, but had auto-everything, except for programs for sports, etc. I inherited a Canon AE1 and some lenses from my Dad after that and used it, but the meter and mechanics of the camera never quite worked right. I graduated to a Nikon N80 and the cheapest kit lenses about four years ago and gradually upgraded my lenses through most Nikon primes befopre moving to "pro" zooms. I bought used N8008 and N6006 bodies as back-ups that I later sold. I bought a D70 about 18 months ago. My lenses now include: Tamron 28-75 XR, Nikon 35mm 2.0, Sigma 50-500 HSM, Tamron 90mm macro, and Nikon 70-200 VR.

I shoot my kids, wildliefe, travel. Lately, I've done more and more event-type stuff like weddings, partyoes, group photos, etc. for friends and family.

[carney2]

Started in 195? when I received a Brownie Hawkey as a gift. After that it was hot and cold:

COLD: Played football and goofed off in high school.

HOT: Got my hands on an Argus C44

COLD: Went to college; goofed off some more; got a job: worried about things.

HOT: Got my first "serious" camera - a Nikon F

COLD: Took up whitewater rafting

HOT: Had children, needed photos

COLD: Midlife crisis.

HOT: Got a Nikon F3HP and then a Nikon F100

STILL HOT

Tom in Pennsylvania

[payn817]

JS,

It's nice to have someone else around whom has shared a similar situation.

Hopefully, I can be more like you in shooting as well!! The way I figure though is after 6 months (really 4 actually with a camera, and 4 different ones at that), I have done well, and acheived a few things.

However, while ghaspidy may be my series (or art) god, you are my sports god!!


Have a good one and take care of that arm.

[photophorous]

I first became interested in photography about 10 years ago, but I didn't get serious about it until about 4 months ago. I'm 28. I got a Minolta X-370 hand-me-down and used it for the first time on a trip to the Pacific NW with my father, when I was 19. I started taking the camera on backpacking trips. Finally, the old Minolta lost it's will to advance film in Big Bend and left me with no pictures of that trip. I decided to buy an N75. I took it on several trips, then I went to Rocky Mountain National Park, this past summer. A few of those pictures turned out really good, and shortly afterwards, my company announced a photography contest/exhibit as a fundraising event (there's about 1200 of us). I decide to enter a few of those pictures, and signed up. That put the pressure on me to pick the ones I wanted to use, and I realized that I didn't know what the judges would want. So, I started doing research and that's how I found this site. The more I read the more interested I got, and the more I realized how photographically ignorant I was. I started to seek out education and several people on this site encouraged me to get darkroom experience. I found a short class through the Austin Museum of Art. After the class, I went to Utah (this Oct) and for the first time ever, my B&Ws came out much better than my color shots. I found a darkroom to rent, and now I'm hooked on B&W and printing in the darkroom.

[masdog]

I started getting serious with photography almost a decade ago when I was in High School. I was a freshman and had just joined the yearbook staff. The advisor needed someone to go shoot some pictures of clubs, and he handed me their camera. It was an old Canon EOS7 that had a powerzoom lens. I used their camera for two years (until it broke) and then purchased my first SLR - a Rebel G.

I did that all through high school, but I put my camera down for a while in college. My college's newspaper had gone all digital at that point (in 2000), and they didn't want to pay to develop any film. I had gotten used to using an SLR, so I didn't want to go down to some little digital point-and-shoot.

About two years ago, I learned about the Digital Rebel, and I was hooked on photography again. I saved up my paychecks and tuition refund and went off to buy my camera (ended up being the most expensive day of my life) at the time. I got in with the school paper to do an article on a hockey tournament. I did stuff on-and-off for the school paper until this year when I became full-time sports photographer and photography intern for the athletic department.

[srobb]

First, let me say kudos to both of you, payn and JS. I know things like that are not easy to talke about and I think it speaks volumes about both of you that you are able to that. Glad that you both have got to the points in your lives you are at.


I think I have been curious about photography for quite some time. By the time I was 5th, or 6th, grade I was really bugging my mom to take pictures with her Kodak Brownie. Then it was on to one of my uncles at family reunions with his big Land camera. I finally got a Kodak 125 Instamatic and later a Kodak 110 camera. I was not taking pics all the time, but my love for it was building with each one.

I was actually introduced to 35mm while in college. A guy I became friends with just happened to be the photographer for the school annual. He would let me go around with him on campus taking pics. I was hooked at that time and a few years later while in the Army i got my first 35mm; the good old Pentax K1000. Over the next 4 years I wound getting 2 more Pentax bodies, both auto type. Then it was all gone in a fit of depression and needing money.

Years later I tried to get back into it and bought a Canon AE-1 (I think) with lens from a pawn shop. That was a bust as I could never get it to work even after sinking about $100 into it to have it worked. Still have it somewhere. I burned up no telling how many of the disposable cameras until last year when I finally decided it was time. That was when I got my Canon EOS Rebel GII with 35-80 f/4-5.6 kit lens. I later bought a 80-200 f/4-5.6 zoom lens.

Found this site last month doing a search for photog boards and have not regretted it once. I have learned there are some very knowledgeable folks here that are eager to help those of us that may not be as good. I have learned some from them and hope to keep learning even more.

[shutterman]

My uncle always had a camera and a darkroom so I guess I was hooked from a very early age.

Was in middle school when I got my N8008. Loved it - became the defacto family photog. Joined the high school yearbook club in 89 as a photog-even put a dark room in my parents house. Messed around in college - nothing serious. Graduated, got married, kept getting better jobs (read more $$) had a kid and then really started to get serious. 7 years since the 1st kid and have purchased 3 cameras since then - N90s, Mamiya 645, D100. now I make enough on the side to pay for the equipment and now have a 2nd kid so the fun just continues!

[Old Timer]

I've been around long enough that most of you know my story so I'll try to make it short. I got my first camera for Christmas 1957 It looked just like the one at the bottom. Loved it but I couldn't afford film and flash bulbs so not many pictures got taken. Then while in college I bought a Petri range finder from my room mate who had been in the service and gotten it overseas. It just got me started and within six months I had bought a used Pentax H1a and a couple of lenses. That camera really got me into photography and I soon was shooting full time for the college yearbook. Great opportunity to shoot lots of film and learn a lot about photography. By 1971 I had moved on with my first Nikon purchase a top of the line F black body that I still have.

Over the years with the addition of a wife and four kids I made the the photography pay for itself any way I could with weddings and event photography as well as a few newspaper jobs on the side. I have had several medium formats as well as a number of Nikon 35mm cameras over the years. Each decade would see a different set of cameras and different degree of photo activity depending on where I was in life and what the family demands were. I had all manuel equipment untill I purchased the N80 in 2001. I loved it and it renewed my love of photography. I entered the digital age with a Fuji S602Z it allowed me to become a poster here at PR not just a lurker. Last year came the D70 and this year the D2H. Over the last year and a half I have recorded nearly 20,000 shutter releases between the two DSLRs and have loved every minute of it. I said I would make it short and believe it or not this is the short version. But let me just end this by saying that there have been two things that have not changed in my adult life, first my love for my wife and family and second my love for and excitment over photography.

[Peter_AUS]

I think this thread is one of the best personal threads that has started over the past 12 months. The sharing of personal life I think is what I find the most interesting.

Something I haven't said publicly here on the forums is that 12 months ago I was informed that the insurance company had decided that they no longer took responsiblility for my back injury I incurred at work and were no longer going to pay me from early new year. At the time this through me into a downward spin of depression, anxiety and close to suicide which still haunts me today and everyday. Some members here know part of this, but this is the first time I have publicly stated my thoughts.

I was in such a panic emotionally, not for myself but for my wife and children. You see, my eldest daughter who was going to attend High School for the first time might not have been able to go, as any money we had for that just went out the door. Keep in mind, I wasn't getting what I should have been paid at the time anyway. If I was working I would have been on about $60,000 a year but was getting something like $20,000 and that is Australian $$'s which is worth about 56 cents at the time American. So I went from around $785 a fortnight to $0. Fortunately both the Principals have been very supportive and one wiped the years school fees for the youngest in Primary School and we have been paying a little on the High School fees although the fees not paid, will have to be paid eventually.

Friends came to our assistance and offered to help with school fees which was just such a relief I can't explain the feeling.

It has taken nearly 12 months to get to this point in my life and at nearly 52, all I can see is nothing much in the future apart from family. The likely hood of getting a job is zero, and it wasn't until quite recently I was granted a small Disability Support Pension of $155 a fortnight which is better than nothing. Now I can atleast buy some pain tablets, get my cholestrol lowing tablets and my wifes tablets don't cost $100 a month anymore for hight blood pressure and pre diabetic tabs.

I know there are others going through exactly the same, similar and worse things, but for me, this is second time round and we were only just starting to get our lives back in order. We were debt free, saving to try and get a house again after renting again for 10 years now and probably till we die, unless the children get good jobs and buy a house we can all live in, which believe it or not is exactly what they want to do.

I hope others share there life experiences and use this as a sort of therapy to help maybe in some way, that this forum has helped me, unkowingly for the past few years. You see, this is a place I spend a lot of time, trying to get through the day someway, and helping is what I think I am good at.

My occupation for those that don't know is Nursing, something I enjoy doing and miss every day. I was working in an Operating Suite of 10 rooms and thought that was the safest area to return to nursing after 15 years away from it because of a previous injury with general ward nursing in 1983.

How do we stand finacially today, well going backwards, but not at the pace we were going 6 months ago. Anyway, that is my sort of story that I can deal with at present.


Payn817,

I know where you are coming from and I know where you were heading. Hard drugs isn't the answer and I am glad as I am sure others are as well, both personally and here on the forums, that you have moved on with the stage of life and left it far behind. Just take each day one at a time and if you ever need to bend an ear (well pm or email), feel free to contact me. Others have from time to time and I think in some way I have help them which in a way helps me too.

Take care.

[ACArmstrong]

Dec. 25th will be my 2nd anniversary of my love affair with photography. That's when I got a Sony F717 for Xmas. My life hasn't been the same since.

[JSPhoto]

AC, well I'd say knowing the anniversary date of starting this is pretty neat, I could come close but not an exact date

Peter - At least you had insurance when you were injured. My original problem began in 1987 after an accident, but the real affects didn't hit (as the doctor promised) until 1997 when I woke up basically parralyzed from the neck down. It took 3 years without insurance to finally get disability. In the meantime I ran up $60,000 to $70,000 in medical bills, including $38,000 for one operation and three days in the hospital. I was fine for about a month, then lost use of my right hand....doc said we can fix it but there is only a 40% chance we WON'T parralyze you in the process of removing the bone spur. I have now lived the past 7 years with no feeling in my right hand, dropping things, and wondering if that day will be the last day for that hand to ever work again. Try shooting when you can't feel the shutter button , I get some funny shots I never knew I took! It all began a year and a half after starting my own business with $9000, made enough the first year I had grown inventory to $50,000, and a month later it was all gone.
Without my parents and other family I wouldn't be where I am today, even my nutty dog and cat keep me going, but even moreso, my photography, which really got me out the depression. The pain killers didn't do a thing to help, still don't....and I'm still fighting the medical bills, always will be

Question Peter, you only pay for school if you have kids in school? Wish that were the case here, my property taxes would be 0! The property tax pays for the schools here. Maybe I should head "Down Under" ;)

JS

[Peter_AUS]

A much better life down under and you US$'s are worth a lot more than the Aussie $$'s are, try 1 US$ = $1.35 Aus roghtly on todays price. So you could get an instant 30-35% increase in your overall worth coming here and if you get accepted for our Medicare if migration is acceptable, you can actually get free health care too. Nothing is impossible downunder.

I do know the thing about feeling, I often have a tremendious time with nerve stimulation from the waiste to the feet, a bit like an army of ants running around inside all the time. But this time it is far worse than before was as well and I am a lot older too, didn't have children to worry about either just the wife and I.

And yes we only pay for Private School tuition where we choose where to send the child to school, Public School is paid for by the Government, it might cost $200 a year say and uniforms as well, but the rest is paid for. Keep in mind this is all funded by Taxes that we pay anyway, so everyone pays in the hip pocket too. I'm sure our taxes are very similar to yours although we have abolished death taxes and inheritence taxes, and taxes on property passing to relatives from a death as well.

GST here is 20% on most things and Petrol is probably nearly twice as expensive as in the US on comparision and conversion of $'s too. Although we don't get as much snow as you guys do in winter, certainly not here in Sydney. 31 degrees in the house today and that is celcius 88 degrees F. Was 102.2F yesterday.

[JSPhoto]

lol, hmmm, 102! It was 16f here and now we are waiting for a 4-6 inch snow fall today I love snow but my body doesn't...arthritis doesn't like the weather changes much and cold even less!

Ahhh, ok, private school, I missed that I guess. Due to my photography I lost my medicaid, but I'd much rather be takin pictures! I do still get my disability though as no one except maybe a paper would hire me full time. I certainly cannot work in a factory or assembly line again. I could just see cutting off my right hand and not knowing it. I know about the lower extremeties going numb too, it happens if I sit too long, more bone spurs on the spine. Too bad we can't get spine transplants....they are replacing almost everything else!

It is amazing that the photography has helped me so much. Before I started taking pictures I was basically a shut in, and never went anywhere except when I ran out of coke or smokes. But once I started taking pictures I was getting out again...and moving. I still wonder though how no one, even the police I saw daily at events didn't notice I was stoned on those vicoden I was eating. Even family didn't seem to notice anything other than I was still in pain.

JS

[mjs1973]

Speed, I still have a DISC camera, somewhere.

My interest in photography started about 2 years ago. I have been interested in CAMERA's for as long as I can remember tho. I think my parents still have a KODAK instant camera somewhere. It came out right after Poloroid came out with the first instant camera. Poloroid sued Kodak for patent infringement and WON. Kodak had to recall ALL of the cameras, but for some reason, my parents never took theirs back. I remeber taking pics with that camera when you could still get film for it. Not sure if you can get the film now tho. I use to take pics with my moms p/s cameras as a kid. One time I had my folks subscripe to a magazine (Sports Illustrated I think) so I could get the FREE 35mm camera that came with the subsription. That thing looked so awsome in the comercial, and I thougth I was something when I got it. Basically a p/s designed to look like an SLR. I didn't know any better tho. I just assumed that a 35mm was PRO gear compaired to the 110's I was use to. I got a Panasonic disc camera as a gift and I thought that was the greatest thing since sliced bread too. I loved that camera and I thought the pics looked so great from it! My next "real" camera came in the form of a Canon Sure Shot WP-1, 35mm p/s. The WP stands for water proof. I was very impressed with this camera. All I knew how to do was push the button, and the pics came out great. I got the camera by sending in Marlboro miles. I don't smoke, but my parents own a bar, and I would always save the empty packs of cigaretts that people would leave on the bar, or ask me to throw away. I think I have more Marlboro gear than Marlboro does. Hey Speed, that's were I got my telescope too! I used the WP-1 for a couple years, but I always dreamed of a 35mm SLR.

So a few years ago, I finally decided to make the plunge. I went to a local electronics store and bought myself a Canon EOS Rebel G, kit with 2 lenses, a 35-80mm and 80-200mm. Both very cheap kit lenses, but I didn't know any better at that time. The camera took very nice pics, and I loved the zoom range, but I would always use it on the fully auto settings. I couldn't bring myself to use the manual modes because I wanted to make sure I got a decent exposure since I had to pay for the pics. After all, the camera knew more about photography than I did. After useing that for a couple years, I deciced that the best way to teach myself about photography was to get a fully manual SLR and that would force me to learn. So I hit ebay and bought an AE-1 with an assortment of lenses to go with it. 24mm, 50mm, 135mm, 60-300mm. I loved this camera, but I really never took the time to figure out how to read the meter in it, so I stuck to my EOS and the auto settings.

By now, digital p/s are all the rage, and we had a litter of puppies to sell. So we bought a Kodak digi-cam to take pics of the puppies we had to make posters, and a web site to help sell them. This was my first taste of digital, and I loved it.

Then one day my girlfriend at the time, now she is my fiance, decided to go canoeing. I took the Kodak digital p/s and the EOS with me and packed them in thier cases, then put them inside an empty cooler. That way if we tipped over, the cameras would stay dry and float! Guess what we did? If you said "you tipped over the canoe" you are right! The cooler had floated, just like I knew it would! The only problem was that the drain plug on the cooler was OPEN. So the cameras got wet... The Kodak survived, the EOS did not. That's when I found this site to try to find out if it was worth fixing or not. I decided to cut my losses with it, and ordered myself the Digital Rebel. The DSLR gave me the freedom to experiment with all kinds of settings without thinking about the cost of film development. That is when I really started getting more into PHOTOGRAPHY as aposed to cameras. I signed up for a photo class at the Univerisity and dusted off the old AE-1 and really learned how to use it, and read the meter, and set my exposures the way I wanted them set. I loved using that old AE-1, and still do, although I have noticed some light leaks lately.

It was king of a pain to have 2 different kits tho. I love using both film and digital, but they aren't compatible with eachother. So if I wanted to take both with me, I basically had to doubled my load. So I figured I should get myself a good quality EOS film camera to add to my EOS kit. Back to ebay I went, where I purchased a mint condition Elan 7N. The AE-1 doesn't get to come out and play much anymore now but it will on special occations.

With the help of digital, and this site, I have grown my interest in learning more and more about photography and how to capture the images that I want, and not what the camera wants. I really regret not taking the time to learn more when I was younger. I'm 32 now and I really wish I had taken the time to figure all this out 15-20 years ago.

[ken1953]

My love and appreciation of "photography" probably began even before I can remember. However, the cost of all the equipment and processing, etc. prevented me from actually doing it. So, I let my creative juices flow in other directions, MUSIC, even to the point of seeking a degree in Music from Arizona Western College and Northern Arizona University.

Then, about 3 years ago, I got my little Kodak through a trade with my stepdaughter. She didn't like the little digital, so she got my videocam in an even swap. I immediately set out to take pictures of everything I laid my eyes upon. My main interest being, motorcycles and classic cars (in motion, of course). Also, as I lived on a farm with wide open spaces to the west, sunsets also filled a great deal of my memory card. Then of course are the grandchildren, whom are about 50% of my activity.

Then in late May, 2005, I discovered PR and for the first time since I began shooting, I actually began learning "how" to take pictures, even with a point and shoot. Within 3 months I had become disenchanted with my limitations of the Kodak and began looking into various cameras, both p/s's and dslr's. Again, however, the evil scourge of "MONEY' raised it's ugly head.

All I could do was dream and learn. I researched cameras, took over as "Reviews Moderator" , in hopes of learning all aspects of photography, I "tried" to save, but something always came up.

Then, my stepdaughter decided she didn't want to keep her house, which we had sold to her, with no money down, 4 years before. We had quite abit invested, so, we told her we'd take it back, no money down. So in the loan, we tacked on a few extra to catch up on some bills and have a little left over for christmas.

While christmas shopping at Best Buy, as usual, my wife found me browsing the various cameras. I was looking at a Sony, and a Kodak. Both camera's were just under $500.00. The salesman was very nice and was pointing out all of the features. He knew that I wasn't going to buy anything that day, but he was still very helpful. Then, out of nowhere, the wife says, "I'll buy you that one (the sony), but not the big one (meaning the dslr's that I'd been looking at. ). My heart leaped for joy, my brain was in a tizzy, then the salesman made a fatal flaw. He suggested another camera that was out of stock, a Canon S2 IS! He put me on the website, and as I checked the camera out, decided that this was the camera for me...hmmm...well maybe not...I told the salesman, that I wanted to go home and research the camera a bit more and check PR about it. We finished our purchases and after a full day of shopping in Dubuque and a great lunch at Carlo's O'briens, we headed home.

I got on and was about to purchase the camera going through the PR site at Ritz Camera. When I clicked the link, I saw a fantastic special on the Nikon Coolpix 8400. After some quick soul searching, some chats on the forums, a quick email to Photo John and an equally quick reply, I made up my mind and purchased it that very same evening. It arrived on Dec. 7, 2005 and has frustrated me ever since. hehe I have a bit of a learning disability and can not learn by reading very well, so although I have read several books and the manual, cover to cover, several times. I am almost totally lost. However, I have managed to get a few nice pictures from the weekend and feel that my photographic journey has taken a giant leap forward.

So, I guess you can say, I've started many times, and will probably have many more starts before my journey comes to an end. But in the meantime, I plan to shoot and learn and learn and shoot and them, learn some more and shoot lots more!!!!

Ken

[JSPhoto]

LOL, I thought this thread got put way down in the list....then discovered it got "sticky". I never expected that from one of my threads, at least, not out of the sports world
I am glad so many seem to like the thread though and it has taken some interesting twists and turns I think. Sometimes much more than I ever expected, especially when considering how photography has affected some of us.

Hey Ken1953....hmmm, sounds like your stepdaughter got the better end of the camera deal there
Learning a new camera can be frustrating. When I went from the Polaroid P&S to the Olympus C2100UZ it drove me nuts. The very day I got the 2100 I had to shoot a race and had maybe 10 shots out of 300 I could use. I didn't have internet then so the learning curve was rough, and I actually read the manual. Then when I went from the 2100 to the Canon 1D (talk about diving off the deep end!) I was lost looking at the thing, a quick 20 minute look at the manual, following the directions for "quick start" I got the battery charged and while waiting read more of the manual. Finally the battery was done and I put it in the camara and whala.....NOTHING! I started to power up and then err- something and shut off. A quick call to Roberts where I bought it and they said "bring it in tomorrow". I took it in and they didn't even look at it, just handed me another one. I later found out the first one. I left and went straight to a game for the paper having never used the camera or any of the three lenses I bought...talk about a rough way to learn a new camera!
Fortunately though Ken, we now have PR where we can get answers or guve help to others.
Thanks Photo John!
JS

[coachgns]

I'm surprised to see such little activity on this site, and no posts here since 12/12.

Very interesting thread. But boy do I feel old! You "youngsters" talking about being old geezers!
I began in photography when I was about 10, using an Argus C-3 (Which I still HAD until I moved post-divorce this year - now "missing"). Then at about 12 I had a little business going of processing film for friends & neighbors. That ended when I lost a roll of baby pictures from a neighbor. OOPS.
Then came HS & College & Marriage & Kids.
Then in late 90's I began cruising, and decided since I was seeing such wonderful places, I needed to photograph them. So got my first digital P & S & took some good snapshots. About a year ago I treated myself to my Nikon digital, and then, upon retiring this summer, took my first Photog class. Now I am ready to devote substantial time to photography.

[swmdrayfan]

My first 'fling' with photography happened while I was in the Navy (1967-70). I started with a Polaroid Swinger. The camera is long gone, but I still have some of the pictures. Before I was sent overseas, my dad suggested I get a better quality camera for some of the shots I might take in Japan, so like the good son that I was, I dutifully bought a 35mm (the name of which is lost to history), and was able to get some nice slides from my two years there (took a couple hundred at EXPO 70 alone). Shortly after returning to the States, that camera went belly up, but I still had a super 8 mm movie camera, so that carried me thru for awhile. After getting married, I purchased a Kodak Instamatic, which the wife and I used from the mid 70's to the mid 80's.
After my dad passed away in 1987, I traded in his camera gear for a Minolta Maxxum, which I still possess. That one stood me in good stead until 2003, when I purchased an HP Photosmart 850. Making the transition from film to digital was a good thing, as I spent the summer of 2004 taking pictures of the NY Yankees low-A affiliate in Battle Creek, Michigan. I liked giving the players copies of pictures and having them sign copies for me, and in early April this year, invested in a D70, which is my 'bread and butter' outfit. I started free-lancing for a baseball card company in April, and a minor league baseball magazine in August, and after the season closed, I started to broaden my horizons with landscape and nature photography.
I'm looking forward to 2006 and all the possibilities it will bring.