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.
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! (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 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.

Box Brownie2.jpg

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! 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!

[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.