DrLeoB
Shoot a IIIc "K" !!!
Got a job in the Livermore, CA Rexall Drugstore as camera clerk at 14...Hooked ever since. Had a Kodak Retina Reflex at 15, and a Canon 7/0.95 at 16 and moved on to an Alpa 6c with a Tessina at 17.
etrigan63
Rangefinder Padawan
When I was 11, my sister's godfather (who lived across the street) showed me his Leica III which he modified to work in an underwater housing he and my father had built in Cuba. He also gave me his copy of the 1947 Leica Manual (in English) which I still own. I was so enthusiastic that my father gave me his Yashica TL Electro w/ 50mm f/1.8 lens to continue to learn the ropes.
Now, 33 years later, I have come full circle and own a Leica of my own (M8) and my children are expressing an interest in photography. I got them a pair of Kodak Easy Shares but my daughter (age 9 going on 19) is eyeing a C-lux2. Can't fault her taste, but she has to show me she can handle the Kodak for now.
Now, 33 years later, I have come full circle and own a Leica of my own (M8) and my children are expressing an interest in photography. I got them a pair of Kodak Easy Shares but my daughter (age 9 going on 19) is eyeing a C-lux2. Can't fault her taste, but she has to show me she can handle the Kodak for now.
Doctor Zero
Established
Interesting most people started in their teens!
I had a Kodak instamatic I used sometimes when very young. Went on a photography and sailing (?!) camp one summer holiday, but nothing really stuck. Then, at age 18, I went to Venezuela as an exchange student, and used a Pentax P&S model; it had two lens settings: 35 and 90, or thereabouts. That started it. Kept with that during first year in university, then when I was in the States for a year I decided I needed something real. After much debate I got a Nikon F601/N6006 with Tamron 28-200 zoom. It was downhill from there...
Doctor Zero
I had a Kodak instamatic I used sometimes when very young. Went on a photography and sailing (?!) camp one summer holiday, but nothing really stuck. Then, at age 18, I went to Venezuela as an exchange student, and used a Pentax P&S model; it had two lens settings: 35 and 90, or thereabouts. That started it. Kept with that during first year in university, then when I was in the States for a year I decided I needed something real. After much debate I got a Nikon F601/N6006 with Tamron 28-200 zoom. It was downhill from there...
Doctor Zero
eli griggs
Well-known
At 15 or 16 in 1973-4, IIRC. I was working at the original Belk's Department Store in downtown Charlotte and I fell in love with a Petri Color 35E in a showcase. I think I paid $54 for it, which was a lot more than I made in a week of after school and Saturday work. Minimum wage was about two bucks at the time.
I shot b&w mostly and would spend lunch hours doing street stuff if downtown and taking pics of my ROTC friends if at school. I also had a photogenic cousin and between her and my sisters' friends, had plenty of subjects to annoy.
I didn't do my own darkroom work until later on in the army, when I was 18, and had bought a new Yashica SLR cheap from a guy who couldn't understand he wasn't suppose to open the camera up while running film through it. His 'complicated' camera was the first of about 7 SLRs that I bought while doing a 39 month tour, ending up with a Canon FTb, AT-1 and New F-1 as keepers.
It was shortly after buying that first SLR that I started doing my own darkroom work and bulk rolling my own film.
I shot b&w mostly and would spend lunch hours doing street stuff if downtown and taking pics of my ROTC friends if at school. I also had a photogenic cousin and between her and my sisters' friends, had plenty of subjects to annoy.
I didn't do my own darkroom work until later on in the army, when I was 18, and had bought a new Yashica SLR cheap from a guy who couldn't understand he wasn't suppose to open the camera up while running film through it. His 'complicated' camera was the first of about 7 SLRs that I bought while doing a 39 month tour, ending up with a Canon FTb, AT-1 and New F-1 as keepers.
It was shortly after buying that first SLR that I started doing my own darkroom work and bulk rolling my own film.
Trawlerman
Member
My story is very familiar .....
As many others here have done, my father got me interested in photography. He had a Ricoh KR-5 way back in the early 80's that had cost him a weeks wages back then. It was his prize possession an he sometimes let me ue it when on days out to the seaside etc.
Times got hard and he had to sell it to make ends meet. He later got a Zorki-4 from a work colleague and that camera fascinated me but I don't ever remember getting to use that one myself.
I became interested in photography around 1986 when I started to show an interest in the local shipping. At that time I had a bright red plastic Halina 35mm P&S that was to frank, quite disappointing to use and the results were never sharp at any distance.
For xmas 1989 I received a PRAKTICA BCA kit with 35-70 and 70-210mm lenses. I was in hog heaven and used that for around 18months until it got stolen. So the seed was sown. Soon after being parted with the Praktica BCA I purchased a Ricoh KR-10M and the rest is history. I've been a Pentax K-mount user ever since.
The main thrust of my photography has always been in photographing the local shipping and even now some 20 years later i'm still as keen as ever, perhaps moreso. I still have all my early prints and negs and whilst they are not exactly masterpieces it's nice to see how my photography has advanced in that time.
As many others here have done, my father got me interested in photography. He had a Ricoh KR-5 way back in the early 80's that had cost him a weeks wages back then. It was his prize possession an he sometimes let me ue it when on days out to the seaside etc.
Times got hard and he had to sell it to make ends meet. He later got a Zorki-4 from a work colleague and that camera fascinated me but I don't ever remember getting to use that one myself.
I became interested in photography around 1986 when I started to show an interest in the local shipping. At that time I had a bright red plastic Halina 35mm P&S that was to frank, quite disappointing to use and the results were never sharp at any distance.
For xmas 1989 I received a PRAKTICA BCA kit with 35-70 and 70-210mm lenses. I was in hog heaven and used that for around 18months until it got stolen. So the seed was sown. Soon after being parted with the Praktica BCA I purchased a Ricoh KR-10M and the rest is history. I've been a Pentax K-mount user ever since.
The main thrust of my photography has always been in photographing the local shipping and even now some 20 years later i'm still as keen as ever, perhaps moreso. I still have all my early prints and negs and whilst they are not exactly masterpieces it's nice to see how my photography has advanced in that time.
hou baloo
Member
A friend of mine in high school gave me a Kodak Retina Ib in 1966, just out of the blue. I was immediately turned on to photography, and was able to return the favor by giving him my Minolta CLE last year - a small 'price' to pay in return for so many years of pleasure!
(The goofy part is that after using the Retina for a couple of years, I bought a Leica IIIa and Summar because it was the cheapest 'real' camera available to me!)
(The goofy part is that after using the Retina for a couple of years, I bought a Leica IIIa and Summar because it was the cheapest 'real' camera available to me!)
oftheherd
Veteran
Don't know how I missed posting to this before. When I was very young, my father was quite into photography. He developed his own b/w and had several cameras, including some box cameras. When I would ask to use a camera, such as on trips to the zoo, I was given a box camera. After he passed away, I got the bug to try photography again while in college, using his Welta Welti and a camera he made himself from two other cameras. While in the Army I used another folder as well for jumping out of airplanes without having something too bulky attached to me.
In the mid-70's, in Korea then, and with my own Yashica TL Super, I once again got interested as the office crime scene camera was a Kodak instamatic (if you can believe it) and took horrible photos. I announced to everyone that as soon as my camera came to me I would use it for "good" photos. Shows how interested I was that I didn't even carry it with me.
Well, in fact I decided that I would have to make my boast good, and began reading every magazine and book I could get my hands on, and got very interested in photographing for myself as practice first, and then because I enjoyed it. An indulgent instructor at the Army craft shop took me under his wing for developing and printing instruction. It was fun! I got good enough that I began to develop somewhat of a reputation for crime scene photography(in the land of the blind, lol). While there, I got my Fujica ST 901, more lenses, the Yashica MAT 124 G, and after it was stolen, my Super Press 23. I also got my first fixed lens RF then, an Olypus of some kind, which was stolen withe the Yashica MAT.
I still have the Yashica TL Super, the Fujica ST 901, and the Super Press 23. Of course, GAS has prompted me to get other things as well. I don't take as many photos as I used to, other than snapshots of the family. We had a house fire about 16 years ago and much equipment as well as slides were lost. It seems that took a lot of the fun out of it. I am starting to get back into it now however.
Sorry for the long story, but that's it.
In the mid-70's, in Korea then, and with my own Yashica TL Super, I once again got interested as the office crime scene camera was a Kodak instamatic (if you can believe it) and took horrible photos. I announced to everyone that as soon as my camera came to me I would use it for "good" photos. Shows how interested I was that I didn't even carry it with me.
Well, in fact I decided that I would have to make my boast good, and began reading every magazine and book I could get my hands on, and got very interested in photographing for myself as practice first, and then because I enjoyed it. An indulgent instructor at the Army craft shop took me under his wing for developing and printing instruction. It was fun! I got good enough that I began to develop somewhat of a reputation for crime scene photography(in the land of the blind, lol). While there, I got my Fujica ST 901, more lenses, the Yashica MAT 124 G, and after it was stolen, my Super Press 23. I also got my first fixed lens RF then, an Olypus of some kind, which was stolen withe the Yashica MAT.
I still have the Yashica TL Super, the Fujica ST 901, and the Super Press 23. Of course, GAS has prompted me to get other things as well. I don't take as many photos as I used to, other than snapshots of the family. We had a house fire about 16 years ago and much equipment as well as slides were lost. It seems that took a lot of the fun out of it. I am starting to get back into it now however.
Sorry for the long story, but that's it.
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peterm1
Veteran
Probably not till I was around 40. (Now 55.) For maybe 10 years I thought about it but knew nothing about cameras and had other things on my mind - family, career, studies etc. I often admired older cameras such as Leicas which I would see in shop front windows from time to time, but always assumed they were far too complex for a starter to use. Eventually I took up scuba diving (of all things) which motivated me to get into underwater photography. I bought a Nikonos and soon decided I liked photography more than scuba, which unless you are really dedicated most people only do a couple of times per year and on holidays. Eventually I sold my scuba gear and bought camera gear. The rest is history. I just wish I got into it 20 years earlier. I remember camera store salesmen trying to sell me these old screwmount cameras that no one wanted back then. If only I knew.
My first "real" camera was a Pentax SFXn which took great photos but was as ugly as a baboons butt. I qucikly grew tired of the limitations of programme cameras and sold it for a Pentax Spotmatic as it was fully manual and I liked the build quality. From there I acquired dozens of M42 lenses (mainly Takumars) and ultimately took the plunge into Leica and Canon rangefinder, Nikon SLR, Canon SLR and a few odd ball cameras like the Voightlander Prominent etc. Cant say there was one I did not get some sort of a kick out of.
As it turns out, I found out later that my grandfather on my mother's side was an avid photographer and in his youth he toured Australia, making hundreds of photos on glass plates. (Which were all thrown out years before I became interested.) Damn! These could have been a unique record of early 20th Century Australia. And perhaps it means the tendancy to be into this kind of pursuit is "in the blood."
My first "real" camera was a Pentax SFXn which took great photos but was as ugly as a baboons butt. I qucikly grew tired of the limitations of programme cameras and sold it for a Pentax Spotmatic as it was fully manual and I liked the build quality. From there I acquired dozens of M42 lenses (mainly Takumars) and ultimately took the plunge into Leica and Canon rangefinder, Nikon SLR, Canon SLR and a few odd ball cameras like the Voightlander Prominent etc. Cant say there was one I did not get some sort of a kick out of.
As it turns out, I found out later that my grandfather on my mother's side was an avid photographer and in his youth he toured Australia, making hundreds of photos on glass plates. (Which were all thrown out years before I became interested.) Damn! These could have been a unique record of early 20th Century Australia. And perhaps it means the tendancy to be into this kind of pursuit is "in the blood."
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ully
ully
Straight out of college for a year I bought a new Yashica Lynx 5000, one of my all time favorites.
I was 22, in the Air Force and stationed in western Turkey. Before my departure, my mother had given me an ultimatim that I was to take a camera and send back photos. So I got a Kodak Brownie Super 27 box camera, which saw very little use... Until a camera nut who worked in the same building got me interested, and showed me how to develop film in the base photo lab which was open to anyone after hours. This was about the time of the Cuban missile crisis. I believe the next camera, the first 35, was a King Regula, and not too much later a Petriflex V. I was hooked...
Papa Smurf
Established
1959 at the very mature age of 15
1959 at the very mature age of 15
My first camera was an Argus C-3 Match-matic at the Sears, Roebuck, and Co. big store in downtown Alton, Illinois. It cost about $64 as a kit. The nest week the Sears ad listed it at $47. An omen as to how my life was to go! It was difficult for a teenager to make enough money to buy film, flash bulbs, and pay for processing, but I persevered!
Funny how life comes full circle. Now I am retired with a fixed income and once again film, batteries, and processing have become dear.
1959 at the very mature age of 15
My first camera was an Argus C-3 Match-matic at the Sears, Roebuck, and Co. big store in downtown Alton, Illinois. It cost about $64 as a kit. The nest week the Sears ad listed it at $47. An omen as to how my life was to go! It was difficult for a teenager to make enough money to buy film, flash bulbs, and pay for processing, but I persevered!
Funny how life comes full circle. Now I am retired with a fixed income and once again film, batteries, and processing have become dear. 
biomed
Veteran
I used a camera that belonged to one of my sisters. Shot 127 film in a Kodak Hawkeye. My mother was always chiding me about taking photographs with no people in them. I can remember expermenting with my father's 7x50 binoculars as a telephoto lens ( the camera lens fit into the eyecup of one of the eyepieces) and yellow celophane as a filter to bring out the clouds. That was in 1956.
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yaadetgar
Member
Well,
I remember shooting on a young age, but I really started photographing during my army service, when I was 19. Later, when I was 22, I started to study photography.
Yaad
I remember shooting on a young age, but I really started photographing during my army service, when I was 19. Later, when I was 22, I started to study photography.
Yaad
ErnestoJL
Well-known
Like many others, my father showed me how to shoot a camera when I was 8 y.o. Some time later he gave some basic photography books and I started to learn the basic techniques. He passed away when I was 16 and I inherited his three cameras (all three were stolen later).
But at 13, I started doing it almost regularly (one or two rolls a month).
I know.... this is a one way road...
Ernesto
But at 13, I started doing it almost regularly (one or two rolls a month).
I know.... this is a one way road...
Ernesto
My dad had a Nicca that he picked up when he was stationed in Japan in the early 50s. He had a 35/3.5, a 50/2 collapsible, and a 135/4 if I remember correctly. Also, a Sekonic meter, a viewfinder for the 35 and 135, and an add-on self timer that would attach to the shutter button. I was fascinated by the hardware. He also used a Ricoh TLR.
I never used his Nicca but when I was about 12 he got me a Kodak instamatic, which I grew tired of immediately...then he bought me a Konica Auto S2 a few months later...I remember reading in the back of the photo mags about this german camera called Leica. This was around 1974/1975. I got my first Leica, an M3, when I was about 18 or 19. The lens was a 50/2 Summicron collapsible.
I never used his Nicca but when I was about 12 he got me a Kodak instamatic, which I grew tired of immediately...then he bought me a Konica Auto S2 a few months later...I remember reading in the back of the photo mags about this german camera called Leica. This was around 1974/1975. I got my first Leica, an M3, when I was about 18 or 19. The lens was a 50/2 Summicron collapsible.
rlightfoot
Member
I've been taking photographs regularly all my life... Again, my dad had an influence. He worked as a photographer before I was born and he always had photographic equipment around as I was growing up, so I've always had a keen interest in photography.
I think it's only quite recently that I've become more serious about getting better at it, though. Maybe in the last few years. When I was about 16, I started getting digital compacts and shooting tons of mediocre stuff, then I moved onto a DSLR a couple of years ago and started paying a lot more attention to the work I was producing... And now I'm starting to focus more on 35mm black and white again.
I think film is a great medium for learner photographers... It promotes a strong respect for your subject and makes you think about the process more. Loads of young people picking up DSLRs today can go around shooting photographs for years without knowing a thing about f-stops and shutter speeds. I think it's also easy for digital photographers to lose respect for "the moment." If you have a DSLR capable of firing the shutter 5 times in a second, why wait for the perfect moment to appear in your frame lines? It's
like taking a machine gun out rather than a sniper rifle.
I think I'm more of a sniper.
I think it's only quite recently that I've become more serious about getting better at it, though. Maybe in the last few years. When I was about 16, I started getting digital compacts and shooting tons of mediocre stuff, then I moved onto a DSLR a couple of years ago and started paying a lot more attention to the work I was producing... And now I'm starting to focus more on 35mm black and white again.
I think film is a great medium for learner photographers... It promotes a strong respect for your subject and makes you think about the process more. Loads of young people picking up DSLRs today can go around shooting photographs for years without knowing a thing about f-stops and shutter speeds. I think it's also easy for digital photographers to lose respect for "the moment." If you have a DSLR capable of firing the shutter 5 times in a second, why wait for the perfect moment to appear in your frame lines? It's
like taking a machine gun out rather than a sniper rifle.
I think I'm more of a sniper.
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Spider67
Well-known
Hmm...The first camera was my father's Adox, than a small 110(basic desing just a lens and a shutter attached to the cartridge), then a Beirette. These Cams had one thing in common: I never saw the results of my snapping pics. Only the Beirette had about 5 pics of a 36 roll....the remaining was lost somewhere in photo-Limbo - Which also meant that I lost all the pics of my first time in London. So regardless of what others say it matters which camera you use (or give your kid).
Then my brother paid us a visit and taught my how to use his Zenith EM..... He even left it with me! The same man that said "To borrow a camera from somebody else is as if you ask him to give you his refrigerator!"
Oh yes and from then on the camera I use has to be black..which made my first real own Camera a Nikon FG costlier for my father....
Then my brother paid us a visit and taught my how to use his Zenith EM..... He even left it with me! The same man that said "To borrow a camera from somebody else is as if you ask him to give you his refrigerator!"
Oh yes and from then on the camera I use has to be black..which made my first real own Camera a Nikon FG costlier for my father....
DougK
This space left blank
I've been playing with cameras and taking snapshots on vacation since I was around 9 or so but I didn't start shooting regularly and seriously until I was 30 and inherited my dad's Pentax K1000 outfit.
maggieo
More Deadly
When I was in Kindergarten, at five or six, I got a Kodak Instamatic 110 and proceeded to stalk around my neighborhood making "spy pictures." Honestly, I was obsessive about it. My main subjects were stolen shots through kitchen windows and close-ups of water meters. (Don't ask; I have no idea why!)
This went on for several years, and my dad, an amateur photographer with a basement darkroom, took notice and gave me his Canon QL-17 GIII, most often pre-loaded with Tri-X. I think I was around seven or eight years old and it was shortly after that that dad taught me how to print the film he would develop for me.
I've been hooked ever since. I shot sports for the local weekly paper in high school, went to art school and had several jobs as a reporter-photographer at small-town newspapers. Now I just shoot and scribble for my own amusement.
This went on for several years, and my dad, an amateur photographer with a basement darkroom, took notice and gave me his Canon QL-17 GIII, most often pre-loaded with Tri-X. I think I was around seven or eight years old and it was shortly after that that dad taught me how to print the film he would develop for me.
I've been hooked ever since. I shot sports for the local weekly paper in high school, went to art school and had several jobs as a reporter-photographer at small-town newspapers. Now I just shoot and scribble for my own amusement.
flippyot
Vagabond
Started about 6 (22 yrs old) months ago because I was in Israel and my friends and family pretty much threatend my life if I didn't take pictures.
I started with a Holga and am now the proud owner of a (used) Bessa R (not all of us can afford leicas...) and I use a 50mm/1.5 lense and I just recently got a 35mm/2.5 lens which I'm trying out here in Athens, Greece (again more death threats if no picutres were sent home)
I started with a Holga and am now the proud owner of a (used) Bessa R (not all of us can afford leicas...) and I use a 50mm/1.5 lense and I just recently got a 35mm/2.5 lens which I'm trying out here in Athens, Greece (again more death threats if no picutres were sent home)