Share you first experience making photographs

[Ron (Netherlands)]

Came just across a manual of a camera with which I actually first learned the technicalities of photography: the Yashica TL Electro X. They had this camera at my high school: I learned to take pictures with that camera in 1977 and develop the b&w film and printing it at our schools' photo club.
It was called a half-automatic camera: there were only two arrows in the viewfinder which where lighted when the exposure was not in correspondance with the meter: if the arrows where not lightning, the exposure would be 'correct'. I always remembered this as a very nice feature, because in later years -being a student- I had no money for cameras with that kind of build-in modern meters.
I must admit it was not the first camera I tried to make pictures with: that was the Agfa box of my dad which I took out once to a market when I was about 9 years old: all photos came out blurred since I didn't know to keep the camera still when taking pictures: that must be the reason that I did take up a camera only many years later.

After all these years - of many different cameras especially rangefinders - I wonder how the Yashica would feel again - may be I'll pick up one for a few $ from the geat bay.

 

[bo_lorentzen]

My dad gave me a rollfilm camera when I was 8, then took me in the dark room about a week later to develop the roll, a few days later we made some prints... that was all she wrote...

Sold my first image at 16 and kept going...


Bo

www.bophoto.typepad.com

 

[lynnb]

My first attempt to make photos was with the family Kodak Brownie 620C when I was about 7. I climbed into the wardrobe to load the film into the developing spool, with my dad calling out instructions through the door. It took about 3 attempts. We only ever made contact prints. I still have the camera. After that I occasionally got to borrow my dad's Yashica Lynx 1000 and took slides - Agfachromes which faded, and Kodachromes which are still in great condition.
The first "serious" camera I bought for myself was an OM-1 with 3 primes. I regret selling it and really miss its big, bright viewfinder. My first paid photos were taken with a Nikon FE I bought in 1979, which I still have. Even its smaller viewfinder leaves the 5D for dead.

 

[Ronald_H]

As I kid I had a horrible no-brand 110 pocket camera for some time. As a student I picked up an equally horrible fixed foxus 35mm camera. Only when I went on a business trip with a colleague, who just happened to be a dedicated amateur photographer, the bug bit me.

He shot slides on a Contax G1 and his images were so much better than mine. I decided to get myself a decent camera. That was plastic wonder, a Minolta 404Si 35mm SLR with a fast-ish Sigma zoom. Autofocus was pretty poor, but metering was outstanding as was reliability. I actually started doing concert photography with it. The rest, as they say, is history.

I sold it when I got a Dynax 7. I cannot say I miss it, I learned how limited it was for what I wanted to do. But it did teach me a lot.