Who or what inspired you?

[mattmills]

At first, I think it was the magic of photography. Or at least it always seemed like magic (still does, when I'm doing it right). That was enough to get me to pick up the camera about 7 years ago. I made a remarkable image, one that blew me away on the contact sheet (one of my first rolls of B&W), and I was hooked.

 

[oftheherd]

...
He had a Pentax HV (??? - meter on the top, not TTL) and I was really amazed as to what it would do -- and 20 or 36 shots per roll! I thought that was the be-all and end-all. 🙂

...
)

Pentax HV or as it was known to the rest of the world, SV1. I got an SV1 in a deal with several other cameras, and it had that over the pentaprism light meter. The meter attached to the shutter speed dial. I have since acquired two more so I can make one work. I also got two of those light meters. There were two styles, and I have both. One had a rounded dial, the other more straightened. Nice fore-runners to the Pentax Spotmatics, and all used the M42 mount.

 

[DanK]

My first inspiration was the magic of going to the photo store and picking up a roll that my father had shot over our vacation when I was about 6. I remember seeing the pretty shiny brandnew chrome and black Canon AE-1 that he had just bought and it just looked SO cool. I remeber watching him focus on my brother and I and hearing the click of the shutter and not knowing HOW the camera did its magic but that it did capture that moment. When I asked to "play" with it, dad made sure the wide embrodered camera strap was securily around my neck so I wouldn't clumsly drop and shatter his new toy. I looked through the lens, the ocean was on the other side and the center of the finder was all outta focus. I played with the lens until it became sharp. Once I did that, "CLICK" my finger just him the shutter without even me remebering to tell it to. Dad took the camera back since he only had a few pics left and wanted some more family shots on the beach.

Back to the photo store and having the pictures, I wanted to see my ocean picture. Well, seeing as how I had no idea what shutterspeed and F stops were, the image was a bit ( A LOT) blown out LOL. But I still was amazed at the fact that I pushed a button and then had a picture of the ocean that I made somehow. After that day photography was always a magical thing that was in the background. Never something I persued as a kid what with soccer and the new thing, home computers and of course the wonderful atari and nintendo. But as I got to highshcool I found dads old AE-1 and played with it some more.

As luck would have it, my new to be uncle, my aunt was finally marrying 😉, was a still photographer for the motion picture industry. That set the wheels really turning and for my graduation from high school, they got my a Canon EOS Elan. The rest is kinda history, but over the years till my uncle past away, I would love seeing his work and talking about all the projects I was doing in college. He took over the Inspiration after my dad put his camera away and I thank them both for nurturing my intrest in this magical creative world.

 

[xayraa33]

as a very young child, my uncle inspired me with his Adox Golf MF camera, and I will never forget the first time I had a whiff of fixer as he showed me how to make contact prints from his Adox Golf negatives.
to me it was magic, this photography business.
A few years later, I was impressed by the photographs of Felice Beato that were in a book my father owned,
I had to get a camera and try this craft out for myself.

 

[John Robertson]

I wish I had such an interesting story to tell, but in my case it was pure bribery!!! Pass your exams for entrance into high school and I'll buy you a camera, said my father. When I got it his brother (my uncle) a professional photographer taught me to use it, and I then worked with him at weekends. That was 1956!!!!
I still have the camera. takes 127 film.

 

[Rafael]

I still have the camera.

Wow, that's very cool. Do you ever still shoot with it?

 

[Trius]

As a youngster I had some mild fascination for camers as machines, and an aunt had a 35mm back in the mid or late 50s that I thought was very cool. And I did love photos as remarkable things, somewhat magical.

A little later I got my first camera, a Brownie Bullet that used 127 film. My first "real" camera was a Konica C35V. After not paying much attention to or having a driving interest in photography, I had been motivated to get a 35mm camera by a roommate who had a Canon FTb. He didn't really inspire me, and I also needed a camera to produce some photos for a a monthly newsletter.

The real inspiration was a teacher by the name of David Hallam, in London, Ontario. David was a freelance photographer at the time, and taught beginning photography for adult education classes in London.

After completing the first course with David, I knew I wanted more, so I hired David as a private tutor on a per-session basis. His insight, assignments based on my personal need and his insight into me as a person, plus making his darkroom available, were absolutely integral to my progress as a photographer, not to mention the love of the art and craft that I developed.

I've lost track of David; I know he went into publishing when desktop publishing was in its infancy, but I don't know if he is still around, much less if he is sitll photographing or in publishing. I'd love to connect with him again; he became a friend, now long lost.

 

[Todd.Hanz]

As an orphan child growing up in the 1940's, I would take odd jobs to feed myself. I was artistcally inclined so I would sketch portraits of people on the street for a nickel, work was good and I would sketch until my fingers bled. I eventually contracted a type of charcoal poisoning from the pencils I used and was very sick. The doctors told me I would have to find another way of expressing myself artistically, for me it was the end of my livelyhood. As I walked the street pondering my dilema, I came upon a silken rope that appeared to decend from the clouds with a sign that said "PULL ME", so I pulled the rope...just like I'm pulling your leg right now... 🙂.

On a more serious note I have only been into photography for only a short time, about ten years. My wife wanted to become a portrait photographer so for Christmas one year (after alot of research) I bought her a Hasselblad, some lenses, a few backs, and some strobes and backdrops to get her started. Well it turned out she didn't have a clue where to start, so after more research (on my part) I basically taught her how to use the equipment. She did really well and had a profitable business. I would fill in on the occassion that she couldn't make a shoot and ended up liking the process, and viola, here I am.

Todd

 

[John Robertson]

I keep meaning to Rafael, I can still get a reasonable range of films for it here.
It has a very good lens, a three element Cooke triplet made by Beck, and a metal focal plane shutter with three speeds + B 1/25;1/100 and 1/500. There is an earlier and more common model called the Purma Special it has a very streamlined Bakelite body. the problem I would have is scanning the film as my film scanner only takes 35mm and APS. I still have the original box,instruction book, lens hood and filters. I think it cost my father a lot of money, he sadly died a few years later so I wouldnt part with it for anything!!

 

[Nando]

I'm fascinated by machinery. I liked to take photographs as a boy and that's when a I got my first taste of rangefinder cameras with a IIIf and a Canonet. Back then, I was always put in charge of the picture taking at family outings and events. I was interested in everything mechanical but eventually gravitated mainly toward automobiles. I'm very heavily into Fords - European Fords in particular as well as Fords in motorsport.

Recently however, I've became very interested in my roots and my homeland of Portugal - its history and culture. This new found interest developed after reading José Saramago's "Journey to Portugal", which chronicles a traveller's journey through Portugal revealing the rich history, culture, romance and charm of the nation. I started travelling throughout Portugal again, kind of following Saramago's example, and wanted to document everything that I encountered. Hence, I got into photography and soon I found that it was a very relaxing hobby. I enjoyed my outings to take photographs in Portugal and just continued it when I came back to Canada. So I then decided to take a few classes and make a go of it. Being a enthusiastic about mechanical things, I also became very interested in equipment itself and the process of using it. This is one of the reasons why I use a rangefinder and gave up using a dSLR.

I've been seriously into photography for a bit over 2 years. Into rangefinders for about 6 months.