At what age did you start photography? Please tell us your story.

Here's another fun poll for folks out there who care to talk about these things.

At what age did you start photography? Please tell us your story.

I was 14 when I first picked up my dad's Nikon. It was an N6006... nothing special. When I was 15, we took it to Vietnam and the shutter died. Didn't go far with that. During my junior year of high school, I took a bunch of panorama disposable cameras with me to the grand canyon. I still have those photos... they were not works of art and I was apparently not a young prodigy. Later in college, I picked up a Nikon Pronea S and started shooting. My college budget didn't allow me to buy much film to develop... and when I did, the images really looked terrible. Advantix film should never have been born. After college, I bought a Sony Cybershot DSC-P9. I was a snapshooter who planned to take photos of things to paint after. That never happened.

To answer my own poll, I didn't really start photography until 2007 when the 40D came out. I was 27 and that was when photography really took hold of me. I had started in law school in 2005 and was really tired of reading and writing words on a page... I needed a creative outlet that didn't take as much time as the painting and drawing I used to do. Digital photography made sense to me and, for a time, digital editing came more natural since I was a part time graphics designer in college.

Anyway... so that's my story. Not very interesting... but I'm sure others have better to share.

*Ugh... it bothers me when I mess up a poll... I forgot "years old" for one of the selections.

I used to use various disposable film cameras long ago, but I wouldn't really call that getting into photography...

I must have really started around 2006 (age 18?) with the Powershot Pro 1 and then 400D, back when they just came out. They belonged to my company and I didn't even really want to photograph stuff, as I was busy doing CAD and graphic design, but it was a handy skill and I used cameras more and more over time.

I did about a month of straight research while on vacation, because I figured it'd improve my work, thanks in part to POTN (of which I wasn't a member yet) and other websites (maybe read just about every DSLR related site on the net). So I went ahead and bought my first lens for use on the 400D, the 70-200 f/4 IS, and needless to say, it blew away my expectations, and soon as the 5D2 came out, I bought that and it became my first personal camera. By this point I actually lost interest in 3D and design and went into photography full time.

Despite it being 2013 and the social media boom, I still have neither a website, nor do I show my work anywhere, though I seem to be doing fine without all that. I usually just go online to troll or help other photographers, depending on my mood.

My grandmother gave me an old brownie box camera when I was a kid to play with. I advanced through some 126 and 110 instamatics until I got into high school in the late 70's. We were lucky to have a former professional wedding photographer who had semi retired from photography who taught english and photography/yearbook. For a small rural school we had a great darkroom for the yearbook work, and we shot our own school portraits for the entire campus which went from Kindergarten through the high school. So by the time I left for college i had 4 years of producing a yearbook, and production portrait work experience.

Always been a shutterbug but never serious. Started using DSLR's for video (7D and 5D mk2) back when the craze started and after enough clients kept asking if I did photography, I decided it was time to learn "the other mode" on my cameras. Business-wise it's nice to be able to offer another service and it's certainly opened a few more doors. Now using 1Dx, 5D mk3, 70D with a ton of great glass. On the hobby side it's been great to finally get the kind of shots that were in my head but never had the tools to execute. And the hobby side is starting to make money with prints sold so it all seems to be converging to the point where I may make a living doing what I truly love!

Thanks for contributing, folks. Do they teach photography in schools nowadays? I know my wife said she took a photography class in high school and she's got some self-portraits to show. When we were in school, they still had darkrooms at the high school to work in. I never took the course, though.

yipDog - that first shot is WOW.

Around 11 or so I was pushing the shutter button for family shots. At 12 on the family vacation to Catalina Island I was shooting sunset shots of the Casino building. Somewhere around 12-13 an uncle gave me a 126 camera and some of his darkroom gear so that I could learn to process B&W film. At 15 my dad bought an SLR, and while it was his, I was the only one using it! About 14-16 I was doing some work in runway shots of fashion models and learning to process Ektachrome from an industrial photographer, at 16 I was shooting headshots for beauty schools students to get their cosmetology license. At 16 I was on the photo staff of the high school newspaper and yearbook, at 17 I was photo editor of the newspaper.

gonzogolf wrote in post #16536764
My grandmother gave me an old brownie box camera when I was a kid to play with.

Me, too. The one in my avatar.
Mom said to always have the sun behind me, so I had a lot of shots of small in the distance 10 year old classmates squinting at the camera. [..]

A few years later I started developing film with a red safelight like they did on tv. That didn't work out too well with panchromatic film! ; D

Messed about with cameras as I grew up - just taking holidays snaps with automatic cameras and posting the envelopes away for developing. Never had a clue what shutter speed was or aperture was at that point.

About 2007 I started actually thinking about it properly and, as Kolor Picker above says, found this site. What a godsend - learned more in six months of membership here than in all my days previously.

In eighties, I tried at 13-14, failed due to the absence of film developing knowledge and money, place to develop/print b/w film.
Succeeded couple of years later with ORWO color slide film, FED-2 and Industar 26M.
Still have and using few times per year this camera and lens.

i was 25 with a rebel xsi

Nathan wrote in post #16536783
Thanks for contributing, folks. Do they teach photography in schools nowadays? I know my wife said she took a photography class in high school and she's got some self-portraits to show. When we were in school, they still had darkrooms at the high school to work in. I never took the course, though.

yipDog - that first shot is WOW.

Yes. Photography is still taught in public schools. I recently donated several boxes of film stuff to the Art's Departments at a local high school and community college. They were happy to have free stuff that works. Hint. Hint.

PhotosGuy wrote in post #16536806
Me, too. The one in my avatar.
Mom said to always have the sun behind me, so I had a lot of shots of small in the distance 10 year old classmates squinting at the camera. [..]

A few years later I started developing film with a red safelight like they did on tv. That didn't work out too well with panchromatic film! ; D

Ah, the Brownie Hawkeye Flash was my first camera as well. My mom made me the family photographer when she 'upgraded' to an 8mm film movie camera in about 1965. I used that camera until I enlisted in the US Army in 1974. Remember me? I was the weird kid who saved his allowance for film and flash bulbs.

EOS5DC wrote in post #16537080
Remember me? I was the weird kid who saved his allowance for film and flash bulbs.

So where are you now?:p

Now I am the weird retired guy getting several boxes a month from the UPS man. Latest addition: EF 35mm IS USM. Just getting ready to look at the first shots.

Okay, I'll play.

35 years ago, noticing that my wife had taken great photos for her yearbook back in the day I decided that a 35 mm camera would be a snazzy Xmas present. But knowing nothing I had to research the purchase. In that research I got the bug and she really never saw that camera again. I've only recently realized that that scab has never really healed.

Shot tons of Kodachrome 64 and 25 on a tripod of things that couldn't move anyway at f/22 because I can't see well enough to focus even with a splitter. Thousands of pictures of the kids. All well done of course. Then I drifted away from the expense.

About 6 years ago my wife got ME a rebel film camera so I could have all that fancy auto stuff. After waiting for the 4th roll of film to be developed I went and got my own digital rebel.

Hung a bunch of prints from my slides in my office at work to inspire me and went off on the sleigh ride again. Yee-ha!

Now I don't shoot as much as I'd like but will retire eventually.

My mother was a photographer, and I remember playing with her TLR before she finally bought me a Brownie Hawkeye box camera in first grade. Mom taught me a few things with the Brownie, and I guess I graduated because she gave me a Kodak Instamatic for my 10th Christmas. But I didn’t really start to understand photography until I bought my first adjustable camera, a Pentax Spotmatic at age 16, and started developing film in my own darkroom.