How did you learn photography?

Trial and error and no formal training. In fact much of the darkroom skills (hah!) I have come from product manuals, very sprarse ones and making a fair few mistakes.

I also keep an eye on the work of my favourite painters, refresh my eyes on those who have since passed on, and pick up cues from things I have seen -- mostly subconsciously I guess.

I have to of gotten better somehow!

I would never turn down some formal training; I just haven't as yet jumped into it.
 
It started with a film SLR, photography magazines/websites and trial and error. The most helpful was the critique section of a particular magazine, which helped me learn to critique my own. Then I took a school photography class, learnt a little about darkroom, but haven't stepped foot in one since then for... 7 or 8 years. I did a diploma in photography three years ago, spent some time in the studio, learnt a bit more on photoshop. Now I'm back to trial and error.
 
I taught myself. I took a class in college but I don't remember learning much. Switching to film was the biggest help for me. It taught me how to use a camera properly, like what those numbers on the lens mean, how to use hyperfocal, DoF, framing and finally, how to shoot without a meter.
 
After my father died, as a freshman in college, I began experimenting with some of his old gear. Then quit when I joined the Army. The Army later taught me to use a 4x5 as a crime scene camera, but I never got to use one, only personal cameras for several years. In 1970, I got to an office that had a Kodak Instamatic as a crime scene camera. In frustration, I began teaching myself photography with magazines and books and a Yashica TL Super. I got better.

In the last few years, I haven't had the time I wanted to give to photography. Maybe in a couple of years.
 
800 feet of outdated FP2 and a Pentax SV, starting when I was 16.

My father bought me the camera and an enlarger because his father had been a keen amateur photographer, killed on HMS Gloucester off Crete during WW2.

Cheers,

R.
 
When i was a kid, my dad showed me how to take a photograph with his Yashica SLR, it was too heavy for me to hold steady at all, so he held it and i fired the shutter. Was then given my 1st SLR and just started shooting, then went to collage and discovered Documentary Photography.
 
you learn from having a passion for the subject and soaking up inspiration and technical know how like a sponge.

I learnt from books and the internet. I have not had tuition or known anyone interested in the same stuff I am, so the internet and books are a godsend. I learn from exhibitions, great printers, and as time goes, more by my own ideas and failure/successes in meeting them. I find less photography out there relevant to me now because my own goals have narrowed. The technical bit is not something that is so elusive now. Its more a case of honing and making small improvements as I go along. Doing documentary/reportage the technical goals are not as tough as they are in the fine art area.
 
mostly on my own, trial & error.
lots and lots of reading, looking at images that i liked and figuring out where the light was when the photo was taken.
took a few courses along the way but found that i was too influenced by the instructors and my photos started to look like theirs.
still learning...
 
I purchased my first "real" camera (an evil SLR) fifteen years ago while I was in law school. I had stumbled upon an exhibit featuring some photos by the late Irving Penn, and I was smitten. I was a painter back then, working with watercolor.

I "learned" through my first few rolls by reading the instructions on the box of film and the camera's operating manual. Since then, it was all trial and error, and looking at photographs. I have then since had several exhibits including one last year at the Silverlens Gallery (www.silverlensphoto.com). I'm working on another body of work which will be exhibited next year.

My first and only class was one given by former Magnum Photo President Charles Harbutt, a class that really taught me how to see and direct my photography that way.

I'm still learning everyday, though!
 
My dad is a professioinal photographer/cameraman,,,forcefully retired by the digital era as the number of job declined to zero...
 
Early interest in photography but I learned the most in my four years at the Maryland Institute College of Art where I majored in Photography.
 
My neighbor was a professional photographer in my village (who was kind of Grandpa for me), doing anytypes of portraits, graduation pictures and so on. He also teached me the darkroom work at a glance - until i was 12. Then we moved, i did some courses in high school and later in the local photographers association. The rest was (and still is) trial and error.
 
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Error and film wasting...

Error and film wasting...

I learned mostly by making mistakes (TONS of them) and wasting film (hundreds of rolls, at least).

I've been an enthousiast shooter for years, with lower than average results until I really got serious and started to look at photographs, learn about art history, read AA's trilogy, plus many other books, and put some reflection BEFORE shooting.

It helped to get rid of some useless equipment, and think more about pictiures. (I invested most of the money I got back from this into film, paper and darkroom supplies)

I still waste film and paper, but at least I have some keepers !
 
I got interested in my senior year of high school, learned from reading the magazines, asking questions at the camera stores. One guy my age that I met at the camera shop lived nearby and had a darkroom set-up in his garage.

I soon discovered that taking pictures was a great way to make money without really working, and I never did finish my first year of college.
 
My mom and dad gave me a Brownie camera when I was about five. My Grandmother gave me a Yashica (which I still have and love) and she taught me some rudimentary photographic and darkroom skills. I got a p/t job at the local newspaper when I was I high school and some of the staff photographers at the paper guided me. Then I took some photo classes in college. In short, I'm still learning, mostly by trial and error.
 
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