So how did you get started photography?

[Kym]

So how did you get started photography?

My story is that Dad gave me a Kodak folding brownie (bellows) camera when I was ~10yo, shot 120 format B&W.
I used to take the film to the local chemist and get the prints from there.

Later at high school there was a camera club that had a darkroom.
I wasted a lot of time with some mates having fun.

Once I started working I got a Pentax MX with 50/1.7 in ~1977, shot slide and printed using Cibachrome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilfochrome).
I got a couple of extra lenses 28/2.8 and 85-210/4 and a 1.4TC, plus a set of Cokin filters.

...
It dropped back to family / holiday happy snaps during the late 80's and 90's
...

I got into Digital around 2003 with a 3.1 MP P&S then a DSLR in late 2006.

[ricktas]

I got a box brownie from my grandfather in the early 1970's. In the early 80's I got my first SLR, then I got a Sony Mavica digital camera (it took floppy disks)...and it just kept going from there.

[levers55]

I started off with a Kodak Instamatic!
Then a Zenit E !
Then a Pentax K1000

After I got to Uni (1974) there was a second hand camera shop nearby and I began my relationship with Nikon, buying an F2 Photomic.
When I could afford it I 'upgraded' through the years.
Nikon FE2
Nikon F601
Nikon D80
Nikon D7000
and in there somewhere was a brief dalliance with an Olympus OM2 (probably got tired of lugging the F2!)

In the film days I mostly shot Ektachrome 100 or 200 and got pretty good results.

Most of my shots are travel/landscape shots but I like a good close-up now and then!

Wish now I'd kept the F2 for nostalgic reasons. :(

Cheers! ;)

[JM Tran]

Did acting and modeling in HK and Japan in 2007, thought it was a load of poop, so I decided to try my hands behind the camera, and never looked back.

[bushbikie]

At the age of 12 was given a Kodak Instamatic

Started work and at 18 bought my first SLR - Praktica MTL3

At 19 my sister was going overseas and she/I purchased a Canon AE-1 Program (see signature) and mainly used it in "P" mode - (just got the light seals replaced and am getting back into film)

Life/Family intervened ......

In late 2008 it was the final time that the RAAF F111 would fly in an airshow at the Amberley Airbase so decided it was time to upgrade to a DSLR and get back into photography - bought a Canon 50D, had a great day at Amberley, and have had a great time with photography since.

[Rattus79]

My first camera was a Kodak Disposable one.
My family were very surprised how well I did with it.

My photographic journey really didn't start until my wife put a Pentax *ist DS (6mp DSLR) in my hands with a Sigma 10-20 attached to it during a holiday to NZ 8 years ago.

I haven't looked back since!!

[andrewvid]

One day 2 years ago, got asked by a friend to convert a video from .m4v to .mp4 ..week later had a kidney transplant and once i returned to school, could no longer attend woodwork class.
So then My teacher that i had known for 4 and a bit years, asked if i wanted to join the Photography and digital media course, sure, why not. made a few short films with a canon 550D (my teacher's, not mine) and liked it.
thought over night, asked my mum the next morning and on that afternoon, got a Nikon D5100. wait.. I started on a canon.. isn't that funny!

So since getting my trusty nikon, i started experimenting and what not and here I am, with a growing passion for photography.
soon to continue this journey on a D7100, hurry up and release it! :D (clear showings of my impatience)

[William]

I started in the fifty's sometime , Mum and Dad bought me a Kodak Box Brownie , I took photo's at school excursions , That I still have , I those days we had to get the film developed at Mr Simpsons Radio store , He even hired Radio's to tourists on holidays , There was no TV then , Remember :D I just had a look through my stuff and found one of his Photo folders that you got your prints and negatives back in , Boy this bought back some memories, BTW , You can see that these shots were taken Christmas 1949 of me already at Greenmount beach where I was today for the Quicksilver Pro , Seeing I was born in August I was 4 mths old , The negatives are inside and still OK

[extraball]

I inherited my grandfather's box brownie, my first camera, at the age of 8 or so. I moved onto a polariod instamatic, B+W, allthough it came out like sepia. Later in the late 80s to early 90's a canon T-50, which was my first slr. I guess I used that for a few years, sold it, and without ever really understanding F-stop, think I used the same f-stop for every photo lol Still, it gave me some great photos, which I still have, and have started scanning.

[old dog]

got a Pentax `SL` with the clip in external light meter when I was about 20....1970. Later in the mid 80`s I got the Pentax program A slr. Digital happened in the early 2000`s with a Vivitar 1.3Mp which I used at school. Later a Kodak then a panasonic FZ30 which was stolen. Then a nikon D80 and now a D7000.

[Cage]

When I was a young teenager I found a Ladies gold watch. The local rag offered free 'Lost and Founds' so I put an ad in. A very emotional lady rang and described the watch perfectly, and when she picked it up insisted on rewarding me, despite my, and my parents protestations.

I think she gave me £1, which was a lot of money for a kid in the fifties.

I was off to the Scout Jamboree at Clifford Park in Melbourne so I invested my new found wealth in a Kodak Box Brownie.

98040

Yes, I still have it.

I went SLR with a Ricoh 'Five One Nine' Rangefinder in the late sixties and later went to Canon 'A' series.

Other than disposables, I still have all my cameras.

[Roosta]

Well, fumbled around with a Ricoh KR5 Super 11 full manual camera in the early - mid 80's, and got about 1/2 a roll of keepers at best. Took the film to my local Fuji shop to get processed. That was that. Still have this camera.

It was rekindled a couple of years ago, when working in the Bush lead me to think I should try to capture some of this. Purchased the Olympus E-330, was a great camera in it's day. Went to buy a new tele lens for it, and found I could afford to change to Canon 50D + a second lens for the same price, and the rest as they say, is history.

[Mark L]

"So how did you get started photography?"
No idea!
Old man started taking super 8 films in the late 60's (steam train fanatic), though that never appealed, it introduced me to photography.
Earliest memory of my photography. Did a Boys Brigade tour through N.S.W. when I was 12 (40 years ago). Took a basic camera and still remember some of the photos now (and have them buried somewhere). As a young one, just remember always taking photos to record things way back when. I still remember that the capturing of a moment in time appealed to me.
Teenage got in the way after that, and the rest is not how I got started!

[ricktas]

Interesting to see the prevalence of the good old Box Brownie in these. Would be great to hear from some of the members who are younger and what they started with.

[WhoDo]

Interesting to see the prevalence of the good old Box Brownie in these. Would be great to hear from some of the members who are younger and what they started with.
Hehe! That sounds like a call to ... ME! :D Ok, I'm not "younger" BUT, I did get started later. ;)

My father had a Hanimex SLR and slide projector that I always admired but was never allowed to touch. When I got married ... much, much later ... I wanted a camera to capture our new life journey, so my wife bought me a Pentax MZ50 SLR with a couple of Sigma lenses. I never learned how to use it, and hated waiting weeks to see the results in print. It ended up in a cupboard gathering mould (literally).

I rediscovered photography when I bought a Fuji compact that was 3Mp and cost $2,000! Still only bothered with happy snaps until, for my 60th birthday, I was given a Pentax Kx DSLR kit. I dragged out my old glass from the MZ50 and started experimenting. Joined AP and a local camera club and got hooked. Finally, after a frustrating search for lenses for the Pentax, I switched to a Nikon D7000 (see sig) and the journey has barely begun. Hopefully I'll live long enough to create something worth leaving behind, but we'll see. So far the desire well and truly outweighs the opportunities to feed it! :confused013

[Glenda]

I'm not younger either but definitely a late starter. Apart from family snaps on film then digital p&s I only bought my first dslr and developed an interest in photography in 2009. After raising and educating 3 sons we decided to start travelling again and our first destination was Egypt where my p&s became more of a point and hope as I couldn't see anything (except my reflection at times) on the lcd. Decided had to get a camera with a viewfinder when we returned to Aus - even had one young shop assistant ask me what a viewfinder was. Did lots of research and dslr frightened me a bit so opted for a superzoom. That lasted less than 1 year and decided to get a D3100 and loved it. Have since got my husband interested as well, he now has the D3100 and I bought a D7000. When I look back at some earlier photographs can definitely see I am improving and thankfully in this age there are so many learning options such as forums like this, YouTube etc.

So now, nearing retirement, we have an interest in common, something we are still learning so keeping the grey matter active, something you can do anywhere, any time and while I'll never be the best in any genre I'm really enjoying the learning and improving process.

[JM Tran]

Interesting to see the prevalence of the good old Box Brownie in these. Would be great to hear from some of the members who are younger and what they started with.

A Pentax DL bought in 2005 for fun, then K100D, then a more serious K20D, before buying working camera in Canon 5D to get to business in 2008.

[fabian628]

got an Oly c740 p&s digital camera for my birthday in 2003, was interested in taking nice photos, it was quite decent for the time. In 2008 decided I wanted more control with a dslr (1000D). Used the odd disposable film camera prior to getting digital.
From then I have upgraded gear and moved to doing about 50/50 digital / film photography as it keeps things interesting for me. :)

[Tez]

Had the box browny when I was young, brought a pentax SLR when I was in my twenties and left it in the laundry after comming home from a hard day, sink blocked up, no more Pentax
Because I had a young family couldn,t afford to buy a new camera, hgot back into it 4 years ago and really injoying it

[AVALANCHE]

Well I am 27, and I started using my Mum's Ricoh KR-5 back in the early 90's when I would of been 7\8 years old. I remember finding the manual flash very amusing and wasting a lot of batteries haha. She would dial in the settings for me, then I would shoot! I learned a bit about exposure and tried my own mostly of my parents and relatives at parties.

I have always however, done drawing and painting since I was born. Photography wasn't a part of my life again for a long time until I got a camera phone, and then I started considering it more seriously when I got my iPhone3 and I was using the camera phone on that.

Boxing Day 2011 I bought my first proper DSLR, which was the D7000, with the Sigma 50mm f/1.4. I was very excited! I got the battery grip and SB-700 flash with it too. Did a short course on Photography, read lots...still do! So yeah, I haven't really been doing it a long time...but I think I've made some good progress.

I took the photos for the Haymarket Chamber of Commerce Chinatown Walking Tour iPhone app (to find it, just type in search 'haymarket walking' in the app store, it's free!), which was my latest job and I shoot regularly City of Sydney functions and events. Done a number of Weddings, events etc.

I always think that I am a fish climbing a tree though sometimes...and that I should be studying animation and so on.

I do love Photography though and watching others. This site has been such an asset to me and being inspired by others work. So, thanks.

[jim]

At Dad's work Christmas party in 1970 aged 8 I got (probably out of a lucky dip) a plastic toy camera that took 35mm film. I lined everybody in the family—including the dog— up against a wall facing the sun as instructed by Dad, and shot them full length. Naturally I never looked back after that.

I still have the pictures. Boy was that a terrible camera.

[Miyuki]

I started photography very recently (just over a month?), but I have always been interested in photo taking. My grandfather and dad were/are into photography, and always watched them taking photos when I was a kid. I remember watching my dad taking night photos in cemetary (being in Japan, it is hard to find somewhere without lights from buildings).

I learnt a bit of photo taking basics from my dad with his old Nikon and Olympus cameras when I was a teenager, but I didn't have a proper camera for a long time. My hubby bought Nikon D3100 over a year ago for trips to NZ and Japan, and I used it sometimes, but had no time to actually learn it until very recently due to my uni study. After I finished my study, I bought Nikon D7000, and I'm finally learning now. Over 2 decades on...it took a while to get started :D

[ktoopi]

I did photography at highschool in the early 1980's where we had a fully fledged darkroom! I fell in love with it and got my first camera, a second hand Pentax K1000 film SLR with a 50mm lens on it. I then went on to do photography as elective units inbetween my double major units at Uni where they had an even more impressive darkroom which we were able to access at at any time. After Uni I bought film point and shoots with huge zooms on them and kind of forgot about my SLR for many years. In 2003, We went on a 4x4 trip into the Simpson Desert (we were heavily into 4 wheel driving at that stage) so I bought a high end digital p&s (cost over $1000....huge $ at the time) that had a lot of manual functions that allowed me to control depth of field etc. It was all of 3.1 megapixels!! It actually turned out to be a fantasic camera and many of the pics I took on that trip are some of my best! a few years after that I had a major flood at my house and all of my photos, albums and film photo gear was destroyed.......The insurance payout bought me a DSLR...a Canon 400D and the rest is history:) I have since upgraded to a 7D and am thinking about the 5Diii in the not too distant future:D:D

[waylib]

I started taking pics of the kids competing at equestrian events with my trusty old Kodak 3 mp digital. I soon realised that without any control of shutter speed I was not going anywhere so 3 years ago got my first dslr, a canon 1000D. It was upgraded to a 60D along with a Sigma 120-400 about a year ago. Very soon after that I was asked to help a pro with photographing a large equestrian event and have now just started on my own. It is still very much a hobby and I still have a lot to learn but that is part of the fun.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tcdev]

The Space Shuttle! :)

I'm another late starter in photography. Throughout school and uni a good friend of mine was into photography but despite his best efforts I was completely and utterly disinterested in it (maybe because he was a Canon guy?). :p

I never even owned a camera for many, many years and it wasn't until I started traveling with my now-wife that we bought a point-and-click. Even during the ensuing trips, I never really thought about it much other than the obligatory holiday snaps in front of .

I then got a unique opportunity to attend a Space Shuttle launch in 2010, actually ON the base. Realising that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, I decided to buy a decent camera and (try to) learn how to use it. Talked my wife into a Nikon D90 and 18-200mm lens (she thought it was overkill), which I bought a few months before the trip. We started going on walks and day trips around Sydney where I'd practice using the camera, and she'd take along her point-and-click. I started to get more interested in photography as I was learning, but it wasn't until we went to the launch, and perhaps more significantly, Yellowstone National Park, that I really started to enjoy it. My wife was frustrated by the limitations of her camera on that trip and for her next birthday I bought her a D5000 and the 2 kit lenses. We did a few more overseas trips after that and photography was a [I]big part of the experience for both of us. For this reason I think travel and landscape photography are my favourite genres.

At home we have a panorama of a Zion sunset that my wife took on the dining room wall; I have one of the Space Shuttle (night viewing) and a Red Rock Canyon panorama on the walls at work. IIRC all three of those have been posted to this forum for CC in the past. It's just so satisfying to see your own picture on the wall!

We've slowed down a lot recently with the birth of our daughter 10 months ago, but I'm slowly finding more time to browse this site again, and thinking about doing more of my own photographing (one of our long-term contractors is an avid photographer (Leica!), and has just started dabbling in paid work). I thought I'd do a lot more portrait work of my daughter, but I find it's still not that easy with such a young kid, so it's the point-and-click mostly. I'm sure when she's more independent there will be more opportunity to sit back and observe with a DSLR in my hand! And photographing her first outings to the zoo etc will be awesome!

[EB Alex]

Wow, so many on here started with film!

My journey began in year 11 high school when a popular art posting website had just been launched. Everyone was doing drawings, sketches and paintings and uploading them to their profiles. Unfortunately I am hopeless at all kinds of art, so I grabbed my point and shoot and off I went, wasn't half bad with the camera and it has grown from there :)

Alex

[Kym]

Wow, so many on here started with film

Given digital is only effectively 10 years old for most people that is not surprising. (In 2003 3mpx was consider ok and 6mp was tops)

[EB Alex]

Given digital is only effectively 10 years old for most people that is not surprising. (In 2003 3mpx was consider ok and 6mp was tops)

Yeah I guess you are right there. When I went to study at TAFE, most people in my class had never been in a darkroom, only a handful.

[Pixley]

Started many years ago with a ripper of a little Minolta. It would take better photos than my partners SLR. Then about 4 years ago decided I wasnt keen on the poor quality photos from a cheap digital P and S that I had at the time and upgraded to a DSLR.

[jollie]

Started off as a kid when I was given my former step father's old kodak star 110 to take on a camping trip where I found out I much preferred being behind the camera than in front of it. From there it was photography classes as electives at school (with lots of time spent manually processing film in the darkroom). While I had a break from it all during uni, once my niece was born (and then my nephew)i decided I should have a camera again to capture them growing up (found a perfect excuse more like it). From there it was a couple of years with a P&S until i finally decided I wanted to try and get back into it a bit more......bought myself a Canon 500d and that's where I find myself now...

[geoffsta]

My mum bought me a camera when I was 7-8. Can't remember the brand, but it was a plastic fantastic. I remember taking it on a school trip to Puffin Billy and taking some real fantastic shots. (Well, I thought so)
Later on I progressed to a instamatic (I think that was what they were called) One those ones where you got 10 images that you pulled from the front, waited X amount of time, gave it a shake and you could see the image. That was 30 years ago.

Then I got married..... That stuffed any idea of taking it further, Bought a house just as the interest rate went up to 18%. *Stuffed again. Had two kids. *Stuffed again. Lost part of tall finger on left hand in 1990, then lost index and half a thumb in 2000. (Worked in sawmill) *Stuffed again.......

In the meantime I bought a Canon Powershot which eventually gave up the ghost.
99092

3 years ago, I decided to take it a bit more seriously as a hobby, with no intension of going pro. And I still feel that way. I'm glad I did. Although it's bit of a bank drainer.

I'm also glad that I joined this AP community. I have learnt so much, and met some wonderful people along the way.

[sunny6teen]

started using the family camera when I was 7. after much begging/pleading I received my own camera when I was 9 and started doing my own printing about 2yrs later.
started working as a printmaker in London in '91 and was shooting for the Guardian on/off throughout the 90s.
there's a great little video on youtube about Roy Snell (who I was with for a few years) and how everything went into decline. It's short but interesting.
http://youtu.be/XCRIvNIi50U

[mechawombat]

I started with a Pentax something SLR in high school in 1995.
shooting Ilford B+W cause I could ( I was hipster before it was hipster) and used the school Darkroom to develop pics and canoodle :lol:

Then photography disappeared until early 2000's when I had a Pentax 3MP P&S (was about $1K) which died suddenly after 2 years but I was so frustrated on how slow the shutter was on it anyway so a blessing.

Moved to a Kodak 6MP P&S (about $500)which was top of the range HAHAHAH only to out grow it very quickly.

2008 was meant to buy a D80 and somehow came home with a Sony A350. it was so I can document my first born and well it has served me well.

Now I have a Nikon D7000, a Canon 600D and the Sony finds a new home today and will be replaced with a A65.

[Tony B]

50s- Kodak Brownie
60s Voigtlander .
70, 80, 90s- Contax/Zeiss & Bronica. My best friend was/is a 3rd generation pro photographer well known in the SYorks area & east coast of UK. We have 6 generations of family who have had their portraits taken at their studio. I was told I had a "natural eye" & was advised to do qualification & chose to do a New York Institute of Photography course. A forensic photographer & freelance for a couple of years before returning to my more lucrative accounting qualifications & some part time photography.
2003- Canon 300D,10D,20D 30D,40D, 5D, 1DIII,2x5DIII,1DX.
2013-Consolidated lens collection to 24-70vII, 70-200f2.8vII, 100 macro, 300f2.8 L IS, 14mm Samyang, 1.4TC vii,2x TCvii, 2x 580EXII. Back to being a happy snapper & hopefully no more wanting expensive gear. My Contax/Zeiss system was good for 20+ years so I trust my current line up will be.

[DonUnder]

My first exposure to photography (pun fully intended) was in school. I was always rubbish at any form of art but needed an elective module to fill in my schedule. I decided to do photography as I thought is thought "how difficult can it be?".

Started off using Pentax SLR's and developing our own B&W in the dark room. I seen remember soooo many blurred photos and plenty of ruined rolls of film as we always used to forget to rewind the spool before opening the camera back :). Ended up loving it but when the course finished I never really followed up on it because it all seemed such a hassle to get my own gear.

Never got back into it until 10 years later when digital really started to take off (ironically, during this downtime my sister ended up becoming a professional photographer). My first digital camera was a little Canon A70 3.2MP P&S. At the time I thought it was awesome as it gave me full manual control but ended up getting REALLY annoyed by the shutter lag. From there I upgraded to the Canon 300D which ended up bringing all these memories of my school course flooding back.

[outstar79]

Started photography back in high school in Manjimup Senior High on my old lady's Pentax Z-10 with a 28-85mm lens (I believe) in the late nineties. Mainly taking terrible portraits and abstract stuff for class, didn't really venture out beyond school. Later had fun with a Pentax MZ-50 for a while. But, started working and left photography for a long while until I started a little more seriously back in May 2011, when I joined AP after family and friends liked my photos with my $100 fuji finepix 8MP!

So I got the Pentax Kx and got playing.
Here are some early "attempts" at Landscapes :D:
http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i377/outstar79/IMGP6018HDR.jpg (http://s1090.photobucket.com/user/outstar79/media/IMGP6018HDR.jpg.html)

http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i377/outstar79/IMGP7173_stitch.jpg (http://s1090.photobucket.com/user/outstar79/media/IMGP7173_stitch.jpg.html)

[Clark]

Well my story isn't that great but Im 26 andhave always liked looking at good photographs online and in art galleries when I was dragged around to them.

I can't draw, play music or anything else arty but when I went to Europe 2 years ago just using my iphone 4 and my girlfriends point and shoot I took some pretty decent photos and thought I could do even better with a decent camera. So after the two years had past I finally had the money to get one so I picked up a 650D twin lens kit about a month or so ago and I am loving it. It has helped me relax a lot more and be a bit more patient.

And I must be slowly doing something right as I just scored the beginner photo of the week for autumn which was a big deal for me so that's my story.

[flyonthewall]

My dad used to be into photography when he was younger and still had some old film cameras and gear collecting dust around the house. I took an interest in them so he started to show me the basics. We both developed more of an interest so we upgraded our gear and joined the local camera club.

It's been a great pastime for us to share. My dad rediscovered an old hobby an we now have an interest that has allows us to visit places or events we wouldn't have gone to before. It also sparks some friendly competition when our camera club competitions roll around

[ashey]

I started taking snaps around the house with a kodak 110 and some other plastic kodak in the 60's, then I joined the army in 74 and played around with a polaroid for a while that was cool, instant photos the boys loved them. I bought my first SLR back in the 80's a canon AE-1 program, that was when I got a bit more serious, the next acquisition was a Mamiya 645 which took stunning shots, then bang I dropped the ball ,for various reasons and did not pick up a camera for nearly 20 years. But here we are today, and back shooting with these magic cameras which I now have and loving it.

[Geoff Port]

Here are some early "attempts" at Landscapes :D:

wouln't have minded having these two in my early years albums Adam.:th3:

http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i377/outstar79/IMGP6018HDR.jpg (http://s1090.photobucket.com/user/outstar79/media/IMGP6018HDR.jpg.html)

http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i377/outstar79/IMGP7173_stitch.jpg (http://s1090.photobucket.com/user/outstar79/media/IMGP7173_stitch.jpg.html)

[vk2gwk]

Sorry to disappoint you, Rick, but I also started with the Box Brownie... :) First time I can remember was when I was ten on a school excursion to Amsterdam Airport. Apart from some planes on the apron I had lots of shots of planes in the air: little black speck against an overexposed background. After developing and printing at the local chemist I proudly pointed them out to my Mum: "see, that is a DC8 and that a Lockheed..."
My amateur radio hobby - needing some fairly expensive gear to work with - has always interfered, but in the sixties I got my first SLR, an East German made Practika with a 50mm F/2.8 prime. That lasted about ten years until the shutter failed..... But in the meantime I took a lot of photos, developed my own films, printed and enlarged in my own darkroom. Heaps of fun. Then we moved, got another and demanding job and I sold my enlarger, dismantled the dark room and got rid of the brown fingers. After that various point and shoots - easy to carry - while I bought expensive radios. A brief stint in video in the eighties but that never appealed to me.
In the nineties (about 1996) I got my first digital camera, the Kodak DC50 with just under 1Mpx... It cost an arm and a leg, together with the special colour printer the equivalent of $ 3000, but fortunately I could book it on my business account as I used it for the occasional scar shot (at the time I was a PI claims lawyer). Some years after we moved to Australia in the late nineties a friend showed me his new Canon 400D.... It all came back and I got one myself, then a 50D (which I still got) and now the 5DIII.
My main interest is "recording events" - occasionally as a paid assignment - but I love to shoot the odd bird, beast or surfer in the wild (with my camera... :) ) and take the camera on our travels in Oz and overseas. Since two years I teach DSLR photography at the local community college, encouraging my students to get off the "Automatic" setting... It forces me to keep studying and experimenting to keep well ahead. There is not a day that I do not discover something new or pick up a new idea for our beautiful hobby.

[Lance B]

Early 70's, it was an AGFAMATIC 2000 Pocket 110 film cartridge camera:

http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Agfamatic_2000_pocket_sensor

Went on a 3 week driving trip with my girlfriend, now my wife, from Sydney to Airlie Beach in January 1980 and the resultant quality of photos were rather poor. So, upon return, I invested some funds into my first SLR, a Pentax ME Super which was rather new on the market and the first "Electronic" shutter speed control camera where the shutter speeds were selected via buttone rather than the conventional dial:

http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Pentax_ME_Super

The standard lens I had was a 50mm f1.7. I then "progressed" to a Tokina 35-105 f3.5-4.3 zoom lens, which was actually a very good lens in it's day. Over the years I also purchased some Pentax M lenses in the form of a 28mm f2.8, a 135mm f2.8 and a 200mm f4 and a 40-80 f2.8-4. I kept this kit until 1994 when I upgraded to a Pentax Z50P which was my first AF camera. Traded my old ME Super in along with the M lenses and ended up using a Pentax FA28-70 f3.5-4.7 and a FA100-300 f4.5-5.6. Not really a great set of lenses, I must say.

In about 2001 I purchased my first digital camera, a Canon Powershot G1 3Mp which were labelled as a P&S. Not bad and a quite a revelation to be able to take digital photos and print at home and send photos over the internet!

However, I was not that keen on a P&S camera and so, in 2004, we were about to embark on a trip to Fiji and I decided I really wanted a digital SLR, which were reasonably quite new onto the market. Looked at the Canon 10D, Nikon D100 but ended up buying the Pentx *ist D:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/pentaxistd

The Pentax *ist D was a revelation and my desire for photography was rekindled! After the Pentax *ist D, I purchased the K10D, the K20D, and the K-7 and had some of Pentax's finest lenses.

In 2010, I jumped ship to Nikon as I wanted FF and so purchased the legendary D700 and some pro lenses, then added a D7000 for "reach" due to the crop sensor as I was getting interested in birding. In 2012, "upgraded" to the D800 which I sold and now have the D800E.

[meredithb]

I was never allowed to play with my parents film camera because film was too expensive so I never had an interest when I was really young... until my older sister bought a compact digital camera and a whole new world opened! I didn't waste money by practising and I was free to take photos whenever I liked. I discovered the little "macro" setting and set about the garden stalking bugs and insects...

It was only a hobby until recently when I started a photography course at the start of the year. I've always wanted to learn more but the timing was never right. But now I'm doing it and it's awesome. :D

[shakes]

High school photography class - took a few photo's, couple of fun darkroom experiences.

10 years later I mentioned in passing how I'd love to buy a nice camera a couple of months later the girlfriend at the time brought me a eos400d... Due to a young family I still havent upgraded but at the same time it's rarely the camera that holds me back.

[Erin]

Ack, just catching up with the forum after a long absence and was delighted to read all of the responses in this thread. It's always interesting to see how folks start up.

Anyway... me personally... I got given an old camera to play with when I was six or seven years old - just something to click and wind, no film or anything like that. I liked lining up all my toys and playing photographer (or what I imagined a photographer to do - I'm sure it was very silly). Then I remember being given one of those disposable 36 frame cameras for a road trip to Adelaide with my dad and I took photos of everything I could... or what 36 frames would allow me to do. Lots of museum photos and pictures from the park. The next I remember was being in highschool and I was given a Kodak camera... the old plastic, fixed focal length things... and used that until it died. Then my photography sort of died off a bit and though I enjoyed my school photography classes, I had more fun with the processing in the darkroom than the actual photo-taking itself (the sign of a bigger addiction to come).

I really got into photography as actual photography when I met my husband. He'd just started learning and it sparked my interest. One thing led to another and I bought his camera (Pentax MZ50) off him so he could upgrade to a Nikon F80. We became very much into landscapey stuff and I cut my teeth on using slide film and awesome stuff like Reala and beautiful Ilford 3200 for moody infrared stuff. After that it was an upgrade to a Pentax istDS and then, finally, a D90 with some decent glass. I'm now heavily into glamour portraits and boudoir. It's gone full circle from posing my Barbie dolls to posing real ladies. LOL

I now spend as much time in post-processing mode and creative mode in photoshop as I do in photographer mode behind the camera too.

[fr33lanc3r]

My girlfriend bought me a D60 for a birthday present and it was all on from there. Loved everything from there.

[seastorm]

Started many moons ago when my parents got me an el cheapo Kodak instamatic film thingy with the disposable flash cube that you can only use 4 times (if I recall correctly). Let that drop a bit because film was just so expensive. Always had a fascination with macro. Even did a elective unit in Photography at uni. It resparked about a few years back when Dick Smith had a special on a Nikon D40 with 2 kit lenses. Since then I've started accumulating all sorts of bits and pieces - gave away my D40 with the 18-55VR kit lens, and bought tons more to replace it :)

[garthyguts]

always had camera taken photos of mates and cars and when away on trips. then got more into it later, now doing cert 4 in photography plus doing music video's with a mate

[Abeniston]

My daughter got into before me. For her 12th birthday, I brought her a Canon 1000D with 2 kit lenses. From there she got a tripod and I used to take her places to do her photography. I got sick of being the apprentice, so Xmas before last my other half brought me a Canon 600D. I upgraded August last year and now both myself and my daughter regularly trip around the place taking heaps of photos together.

[RobC]

All the stories- as diverse as is Photography!
I started about age 9, in the darkroom of my father's pharmacy, mixing fixer with the hypo in a large wooden barrel under the counter. The customer box brownie films were processed in large lead-lined dip tanks, negs were contact printed, 'glazed' on a steel plate (which I still have!). All this before I started taking pics with dad's Ensign Selfix 820. (which I still have)
Was I attracted by the idea of an attractive shop assistant in a darkroom? no ! I was too young.
My first camera was a Hanimar 35mm (c1951 by Finetta in Germany) that was promptly stolen at high school.
A couple of years intervened until I obtained a Kodak Retinette 1B (type 045).
Joining a camera club started me on the SLR road with a Minolta SRT101- and so the story continues to today.

[NRandall]

My very first camera was a Polaroid given for my birthday in 1967 I think. Dad had an SLR, having been a arial sportier in the Marine Corps in the early 50s.

I remember my first 'real' interest was through my girlfriend in college in the early 80s in the US. I was studying theatre and dance lighting and she had the Nikkor body of the time plus the 85,, 1.4 AIS, and doing B&W prints in our bathroom. We were based in Indiana but also spent some summers in Arizona and California, areas which really love the camera, shooting mainly slides, with 50 ISO film. I also suspect my interest in her also helped. . . .
I have only ever used Nikon since, and now shoot mainly to support my community work related to the people I know and events that we do together. When I have time I get out to shoot landscapes, as a solitary headspace discipline.

[pgbphotographytas]

I started back in 2008 after purchasing a Nikon D40. My early photos are still my best, this just goes to show that having expensive gear is not the be all and end all.
Since then I have drifted between various hobbies including photography.

[Liney]

For me it started when I was in my teens and got a Koday instamatic for Christmas. It was great getting to take photos, but really it was very limited in what it could do. I left school and got a job, then bought an Olympus trip as a step up. It gave me a few more options but was still rather limiting in capability.

Mid 80's I finally bought an SLR, a Praktika TL 3 I think, with screw in lenses and I finally had control over what I could do with my photos. I shot hundreds of shots over the next couple of years and got quite handy, the basic controls taught me a lot about photography and how to craft the image I wanted.

One day I'm wandering through my local photo shop and saw an advert for the new Pentax P30. This was another step up, lenses that were easier to change and a greater range of options. With this body I developed further, and it kept me going through the end of my single-man days, into marriage and two kids. Not quite as many photos as the years went on, less money to pay for developing and even the kids got sick of being photographed.

One day I got a phone call from my wife, wanting to know if I was interested in going digital. She'd found a great deal on a Pentax K100d Super which was being replaced with a newer model. With no processing or printing costs, I was suddenly back at snapping anything that moved. Being a Pentax I could use all my old lenses (with some restrictions) but I could cope with that.

That's the story of my photographic history, the future has still to be written

[bitsnpieces]

Mine started just after 2005 new years with the Panasonic Lumix FX-12, took plenty of photos with it until it broke during an Easter camping trip I did with some friends on 2011. One of them recently got the Sony a33, so I got a chance to play around with it a while and since then have been hooked on the Sony cameras - bought the Sony a55 as soon as I could.

Since then til now, I've gone through the Sony Cyber-shot DSC WX50 and WX300, and recently bought my Sony a65, to upgrade from the a55.
That's pretty much my history and quick overview of my current gear, aside from the Cyber-shots which I gave away.

[Crysis]

I got into this hobby as my son was getting married and I knew we wanted a few good shots of our own.
Got on goggle and done a search to see the camera's that were the most popular and then knew what I wanted.
Headed to Hardly Normals as they at the time had a big special on. I seen the camera I wanted and we headed in to get it.
But sadly or maybe not the camera I wanted was sold out and they were not getting any more in for a while.
I knew I had to have one to play with so I knew a little of what I was going to do.
So I bought a Sony A390 with a twin lens kit that I made up.
And that is how I got going.

[MasterOfRoc]

Literally 2-3 years ago, I decided I wanted to take photo's of the local Footy.

Went out and got a 500d kit, and it's slowly evolved from there.


Now have a 7d, 70-200 f2.8, 150-500 big mother, 10-20 f4-5.6 and trying my hand in other forms of photography... Learn as I go sort of stuff.

[enVision]

I started out with a 500D twin lens kit so I had an excuse to escape and be by myself for a bit. That's pretty much it, the rest is history. No stories of childhood dreams, or long passions from me, though that doesn't go to discount my passion for getting behind the camera.

[Mark L]

...... so I had an excuse to escape and be by myself for a bit. ....
Like that.
I've found that it gives me something to think about when I'm by myself, which has been my usual state regardless of how many people are around.:confused013

[truthseeker]

I started over 50 years ago with a brownie box camera. I then moved onto a Pentax SLR and, while destroying my mothers bathroom with chemicals, :lol: I was hooked by the Photography bug. Now that I have been put out to pasture, I have rediscovered my passion for photography and with a Nikon D7000 lightroom and a few plug ins I am back on track. you will find some of my work on my new website should you care to take a look @ les-boucher.artistwebsites.com

[phild]

I started in the early 60's with a Kodak Brownie 127. B&W film and processing was quite expensive as my poor mother found out. My first SLR was a Praktika in the early 70's followed by a Canon AE1 in 1979. I did the chemical thing under the house, home B&W processing was relatively simple and affordable in those days. Most of the shots taken with the AE1 were colour transparencies, I still have a couple of boxes of slides and a working projector. I eventually hope to scan all my old negs and transparencies.

[Stevemartin]

I first got into photography from my cousin who's been doing it for a good decade now. Loved his work and wanted to have a crack at it. Was helping him on weekends doing wedding pictures and stuff like that was fun and so I got hooked! It's a great escape for me soothes my mind :-)

[landyvlad]

When I was about 8 my family (and I) moved to Saudi Arabia.

My first camera was a Kodak with 126 cartridge type film and those plug in disposable cube flash bulbs (I may be wrong but perhaps there were 4 faces each of which could be used once?).

The family also had a polaroid camera.

I took these on a number of holidays, but later upgraded (I must have been about 11 years old or so?) to a Minolta SLR with a couple of lenses. I have to say though that I didn't spend enough time learning and using the various manual controls that I should have, and it spent far too much of its time in 'auto mode'. Nevertheless I got some decent shots over the years. Unfortunately most of those are on slide film and I don't have any economical way of digitising it all...

Fast forward 25 years or so and I sold (almost gave away) the Minolta as it was falling apart and the lenses were dusty etc. And film was out of vogue. I bought a little Sony P&S camera for taking snapshots when on 4wd trips and hunting forays, etc. This was adequate for years, but then I decided that a better camera could get me some better pictures.

I still wanted something that was reasonably portable though as it would have to be on my belt for many hours at a time whilst carrying a rifle etc. Which is how I ended up with the Olympus I have now.

[landyvlad]

Umm typo I mean the Panasonic I have now !

[Hunter50]

My first camera was a Pentax K1000, with a 50mm lens, that my parents bought for me when my family had a holiday in Hong Kong. I did some photography at school (which was part of Physics), where we had a dark room and developed our own black and white photos. I liked playing with the camera and I worked out how shutter speed, ISO and exposure worked together to create an image.

What got me started in photography.......not sure really, but I did like the idea of taking a photo and showing it to other people. It was more to do with making a record of something or somewhere, rather than being creative or arty.

I used the Pentax camera for many years and developed an interest in landscape and travel photography, as well as plants and flowers. It was a solid, reliable and easy to use camera, and I still have it. I did a lot of bushwalking and went to some great places with spectacular scenery, around Canberra, which was a fantastic photographic inspiration. I used to send my films away for processing to a lab in Sydney and wait (in)patiently for the package of photos to come back in the mail, sometimes two weeks after sending it off. I used to get two for one prints, so I could give copies of the good photos to friends and family.

My interest in photography was to record the places I have been to, so I could show other friends and family. I used to put the good photos in a photo album, that weighed a ton. I wrote captions on pieces of paper, with the date of the photos and place the captions next to the photo on the pages on the album. Then I would smooth over the clear plastic film to hold the photos and captions in place - remember these albums. Today, it is nice to look at the photos taken in the 1980s, as a reminder of how things were then.

I didn't take many photos for about 10 years, until recently, when I bought an Olympus OMD-EM10 and started in the world of digital photography.

[taztek]

I was always the one volunteering to take the family group shots with my mum's box Brownie.
Cant really remember if that was 'cause I had a repulsion of being in front of the camera or a compulsion for being behind it.
The first camera I owned was a Kodak Instamatic and I can remember sitting on the front fence taking (way too many) shots of every Valiant Charger that drove by and then doing the 'V' (peace) sign and yelling out 'Hey Charger' !! (remember that ad)
I was about 15 at the time...

[Shav Bird Photography]

I've always surrounded myself with people who were into it. But it wasnt until I wanted to do more with my phone camera that the bug hit me. Not being satisfied with the phone camera I went out and purchased a body and lens pack online. Since then, I have been picking my friends brains and getting out and practicing like crazy trying to get better and better. Looking for new locations, trying different things, experimenting with settings. I've splashed out and bought new lenses in the mean time. Taken photos for actual jobs and getting paid for it too. It's been a real buzz and privilege to do work like that.

[spootz01]

I have always been fascinated by photography and I always saw images in the world around me. It wasn't until my auntie entered the DLSR realm that I really got into it though. I remember taking her Canon 450D around her back garden trying to take photos of the birds flying around in her aviary. That has lead to my passion for sports photography and the challenge of trying to capture the motion and speed of the players.

[Liney]

Not too sure when it happened but I suppose one day I saw something that made me go "I like the look of that, I want to record it somehow" Having no patience for drawing or painting photography seemed to be the next best thing. Mum and dad had an old kodak that used to get used on holidays (then got put in the wardrobe until next year, usually with the unfinished film still in it), but one year for Christmas I got an instamatic which used flashcubes and had 12 images to a film cartridge!

Once I got a job I suddenly had the cash to buy bigger and better, and it all took off from there

[R1Joel]

I was always interested in photography when I was younger. I played with my parents point and shoots for a while and decided to take it a little bit more seriously when I was about 12-13 (05-06). I saved for a very long time mowing lawns on weekends to buy a used Pentax K10D. I used it for years from about 2006-2007 until about 2012 when the camera became outdated so I lost interest. Until the start of this year when the interest was re-ignited, I decided to go out and buy a Nikon D7200 and I am having alot of fun. :)

[Joolstacho]

We did some photography at art school, I think with a Lubitel TLR, but it wasn't until I was Art Directing in Melbourne that I got into it deeply. I was working with some of our best commercial photographers, (no names to protect the guilty!) and I learned more than I can remember. Of course when you're working like this (with Ad Agency deadlines and generous budgets) there's no time to be self-indulgent. Every shot had to be right. One of the guys, (a very naughty German feller who drove around the city in a Messerschmitt bubble car) never used any sort of assistance with light readings, yet every 'Blad tranny was absolutely perfect (and yes I did see all the exposures).- We did a lot of location fashion stuff and I was pretty mean, pushing him around to all sorts of different and difficult locations. - So different now with digital, we shot tranny BITD. Around this time we did a lot of food photography at the Kraft studio. I would spend a day or two a week there, and I was VERY well fed!
Attached to the factory, it was part of the 'Test Kitchen' where there were about half a dozen young very talented cooks always very willing to please. We always shot 10x8 tranny. I didn't ACTUALLY polish pease, but I did actually paint them with oil to add a bit of gloss!
Later when I was freelancing I shot what I needed myself (I nearly said 'shot myself'! :p) I really never had the right gear though, I never felt I could spend the money... I had to work too hard at it. Nevertheless I look back with some satisfaction at the results.
Later I had the run of a very well equipped studio, - around the time Digital was just getting useful. And the Phase One 5x4 scan back was the go. Exposure times were around 3-5 minutes! Lucky we had a very solid floor. It made beautiful photographs.
Of course like most I've been shooting digital for years. But I DO hear the call of my ol' Mamiya and Kowa 6 now, and I'm going to be heading to Vanbar soon to pick up some film and maybe a battery or two, -definitely one for my Lunasix, (but sorry I'm not a complete masochist, -I will cheat and check exposures with my Nikon D70 meter!)

[Joolstacho]

Whoops! - actually my 'daily user' is my good ol' D90 (not D70 as I said previously, not that it matters).

[ameerat42]

With this model Agfa 120 box camera (https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=tQBB1XzZOqA) :cool:

Just don't ask wh:on!