When I walk around, there are always things that catch my eye. It’s usually colours, shapes, shadows, how the light falls in a certain way. That’s how I got into photography. I wanted to learn how to capture those things, moments. Learn how to do it in a visually interesting way. Because taking a photo of an interesting subject is one thing, but taking a captivating photo is something else. So I “borrowed” my dad’s dusty Nikon & started taking classes & workshops. Ten years and 3 cameras later, I’m still in love with the art.
I’m curious. Photographers, what made you start to photograph?
You must log in or register to comment.
my Brother
his friend wanted him to take a summer photo class in H.S… so they signed up…but the class needed three new more students…so he talked me into going too…
43 years and tens of thousands of dollars later…thanks Rick…
I got a free camera helping someone move. It was cool and old and shot film so I figured it’d be fun to pick up a roll and shoot. Started shooting my road trips and just never really gave it up. Now I do product photography and lots of personal projects on the side.
I’m a graphic designer and worked with a lot of stock photos in one of my roles. There were several other members on my team with photo backgrounds so I wanted to learn myself to understand the terminology and how higher-quality images are made. Also thought this would fill a hole in my skill set.
Went on a trip to England from Spain at 17yo with older, internet friends that shared aviation as a hobby. One of them brought a high end camera and when we came back home, he sent to each of us a DVD with all the photos and I fell in love.
Other friends from aviation were into photography too, and one sold me his old camera, and I started covering jazz concerts, theater and such in my dormitory. Even got one photo published in the newspaper!
16 years since then, and I mainly use it to capture moments traveling, moments with friends, moments in the street… I just love capturing the emotion of the moment!
And nowadays I’m starting to make contact with a jazz festival organizer, I’m doing photos on their concerts (just came from one, 2 more today!) as hobby, but it’s helluva fun and I enjoy being able to mix two hobbies in one (music and photography!)
Thinking of aiming to make this profitable somehow, we’ll see!
I used to be depressed; I still am, but I used to be, too.
Anyway, I was tired of seeing everything negatively, and figured I’d try to take photos to force me capture things in a different light. I also assumed it would help me get out and about and get me interacting with people more.
Photography helped me a lot through my depression. It motivated me to get out and do something on days when I otherwise would have just sat around my room spiraling into a worse and worse place. Im in a better place now but photography was one of the things that helped me the most through some of my shittiest times.
Love the Mitch line.
Photography definitely helps me to see the beauty in the ordinary, the everyday. I hope it can do that for you too. I know getting out of a depression is not as simple as simply going for a walk, as some might think, but I hope it brings you a little light in the darkness, at least. Wishing you the best of luck & I hope you will feel better & better, however slow recovery might seem.
It’s probably thanks to my grandfather and his shelves full of National Geographic magazines. He also had a dark room in the basement. My dad also had some nice camera gear, along with a very early HP digital camera. I got all of my early gear from them. I was lucky enough to take some trips abroad in high school and college and I loved capturing them on film. It’s also a shared hobby of me and my wife (a wedding/portrait photographer) so it’s a nice thing to bond over.
I used to play in bands that took up most of my time, I needed something to do after I stopped playing. I’m not one for sitting still and watching tv, photography filled the gap pretty well.
Like musical equipment, photography is expensive, so it was a smooth transition.
Ha! A little huray for second hand gear and equipment! :D (And people like my dad who buy expensive cameras for a holiday, never to use them again…)
Mostly due to my horrible job. It’s soul crushing, but it put foods on the table and support my family. However, what brings me joy is see photos (ie. vacations, family/friends gatherings, or just a random hike, etc).
So I decide to buy a old DSLR (Canon T2i) and was hooked.
i was in high school and wanted to be a food blogger so wanted to take nice photos of food - a decade later i’m still taking photos, but of everything now
I’ve had a camera on and off, took a class in college, etc., but I think what pushed me deeper was getting a job with a company that had just depressing in-house photography. Like, we’re one of the leaders - if not the leader - in our industry, and the only time it didn’t look like we were a small-town HS paper was when we were recycling pictures from a professional shoot over and over.
I decided to take a crack at it… and now it probably makes up half my workload. As a result, I’m constantly trying to learn new things and improve. Next year, my big push is to dig in on landscape photography, since I just can’t seem to capture it whenever I come across a nice shot!
So you basically created your own job as the company’s photographer, good for you! I guess a lot of people wouldn’t even care, if it wasn’t already in their job description. I hope they value your worth! :)
My parents bought me a Sears KSX1000 35MM film camera after finishing USAF basic training in 1986. I had no idea what I was doing and maybe caught one good image for every roll of film I used. Digital cameras, the iPhone and the ability to see my work immediately changed my game tremendously.
I needed a creative outlet. I don’t have the hand coordination to be a musician or painter or sculptor. Nor the voice to sing. But I have a good eye, I think. And I am a bit analytical. So I like the math and the gadgetry, but especially thinking through what a composition will look like to the camera. And I can press buttons and turn dials like a mf’r to get what’s in my mind out. That got me.
As a teen, I was always visually intrigued by some photos. I actually still have a photo of teen me in my room and on my wall there’s newspaper and magazine cutouts of sports photos: Shaquille O Neal landing on his head in a game. A shot of the back of Don Kings head, hair taking up most of the image. A picture of Cal Ripken Jr. in the On-Deck circle at Candem Yards the day he broke the Most Games Played In A row streak, with the new record number in the distance. A disheveled and sad Mitch Williams walking off the pitchers mound after giving up a World Series clinching home run to Joe Carter, a blurry Carter seen in the background celebrating.
Something about visual storytelling captivated me as a kid. It’s a regret I have that I never even considered photography as a profession when I was younger. Just seemed like something so out of reach!!
BUT today I wander the streets and metal shows, capturing moments that catch my eye.
I like to travel a lot to different city. So I like to capture what I’m seeing there, started with just my iPhone and would say I hit the Ceeling what’s possible with a smartphone + basic editing in you iCloud picture app. So i switched this year to the old 1300D from my sister and trying to develop this street and travel photography even further
Years before I even got a camera, I told an old roommate I wanted to make paintings of real life. Now I do that. It’s rewarding but it’s the surprise of it all. I never know what shots I’m gonna walk away with walking into it. I stumble upon it, if you will. Shooting from the hip. It’s sporadic and fun and exilerating. I’ve built a brand upon it now. I got so much more work to do, I got about 10 years of work in front of me right now, I’m trying to chip away at, and trying to figure out how to pay for all the things to make those future projects I got stored in my head.