jackm1943 Loc: Omaha, Nebraska

For me it was when I went from 35mm to medium format (6x6). I was blown away by the improved tonality and how much nicer the prints looked. Had a similar reaction when going to 4x5.

BebuLamar

Figure out that f/11 is really f/11.3.

Brucej67 Loc: Cary, NC

That is a new one for me, really?

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Erik, for me this is a simple but powerful impressionistic story! I have certainly been there myself with that one object trying to get the lights and the darks just right. With luck you had a color head and not a set of a slough of separate filters. I hated the separate filters, what a slow process!
I'm actually surprised at just how many had a father with a darkroom. I guess mom was to busy washing clothes and cooking!!! LoL
Thanks
SS

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Bug, yes in some photography texture can very important and make a huge difference.
When I was in school we had assignments using light to produce different effects, and one of, course was sidelight for maximum texture. One of the images I produced was that of a golf ball! It was very interesting with all of the very symmetrical concave depressions in a very geometrical pattern.
Studies in texture can be very interesting and can teach us a lot about using light to bring out a desired effect!
SS

bluechris Loc: Grapeview, WA

My Aha moment came in 1978 when I bought my first SLR which was a Chinon. I took it out of the box quite excited and I was going to take the world by storm. I loaded the film or my brother did it for me and had to show me how to do it. But, it was loaded and ready to go. I went outside and saw my mother drawing under the acacia tree in Tucson, AZ. I saw all this lines and shapes and I thought that would make a great photo. I took many shots of her. Then, I saw a rose in the garden and I tried to take a closeup as close as I could. I sent my film to be developed in anticipation of great photos. Well, I got them back and the great lines I saw on my mothers form was not great art, in fact the photos were awful. The only photo that looked anything that was presentable was that lone rose flower. Even that would not have gotten honorable mention in any contest. My aha moment was that: taking the world by storm would have to wait. Also the booklet that came with the camera had a nice tip, always look at the background. Great tip. My mother, brother and I were hiking up the Tucson foothills and my little brother climbed up a rock. I thought that would make a great photo of him and I took his photo. When I got my picture back, he had this huge saguaro cactus coming straight out of his head. So much for taking the world by storm. I have learned a lot since then, but there was that learning curve.

Erik_H Loc: Denham Springs, Louisiana

Luckily, we did in fact have a color head. Made the process so much easier. I've also noticed that a lot of photogs here had a father or other family member that had a darkroom when they were kids. Had my dad not been a shutterbug, I wonder if I would be into it today.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

It was a big day when our university photographic club got the funds to get a Dust Colour head....

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

LoL, I always swept my DUST under the CARPET!!!
SS

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

Oops, that should have said Durst! Big deal in the mid 70's. I clearly need to blow the fluff out of my brain!

Although I've always appreciated a new bit of fluff!

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Sounds like you are always gonna be amazed!
That's the way to weave photography into your life.
I think there has always been an Instanatic in everyone's lives. I was on vacation and got my T90 stolen. So went down to the corner drugstore and bought an Instanatic and kept on shooting!!! LoL

Lisa L

I used to say my first pictures I developed myself but that has been replaced with something more modern...the first time I put a memory card in my computer and had the pleasure of (almost) immediate gratification.

Szalajj Loc: Salem, NH

My dad used both Ektachrome and Kodachrome, in the 60's.

For years as a kid, I shot with Kodachrome, before switching over to Kodacolor, because it was easier to show my friends. As a family, we collected our slides into 80 slide reels, which were trecked to family gatherings. When I moved out of my the family home over 16 years ago, I ended up with all of those slides! The aha moment going through all of those slides several years later was that while most of them chronicled family moments, a majority of them weren't worth keeping, but I did keep them just for the memories they hold.

But, I later discovered the Fuji brand of films, and I never looked back at shooting with Kodak again! That was my first aha moment!

Personally, I believed that I got richer colors out of the Fuji films, primarily their print film because I wasn't shooting slides any longer by this point!

I also took a film photography course and worked in a darkroom while I was an extension student at Harvard University. One of my black & white shots taken of Sheryl Franks and Michael Botticelli at the An Evening of Champions was used as the background for the poster for the Hayden Recreation Centre Figure Skating Club's annual spring ice show Ice Time. It was an honor for them to use my picture for their poster for three years. How many kids by the age of 25, have had their photographs published and used comnercially? Remember, this was back in the very early 80's!

For nearly three years, since I purchased my my first real DSLR camera, my aha's are getting better and more frequent. I get a thrill when my raw shots require little to no processing to be ready for printing or digital sumbission. But, I still have a lot more work to do to get those results consistently!

Like the saying goes; "How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice!"

And I need to get out there more often to get more consistent!

wmurnahan Loc: Bloomington IN

Taking a picture of my "vacation" friend (lived across from my Grandma who I visited every summer) with my new brown plastic brownie camera. Looking through the view finder and pushing the shutter, I was hooked. That was some where around 1968.

wj cody Loc: springfield illinois

2 moments, actually.
both domestic. portrait of a girlfriend in 1966 with minolta hi matic 7s. tri-x blown up to 16x20 and no grain! and from a commercial developer, of all places.
the 2nd is hawk's nest beach, in november 1964. pouring down rain, high sea. young woman walking along with her ice cream cone, drenched as i was. asked if i could photograph her and made my exposure with my bronica s2a, tri-x again, have treasured that image all my life. never knew her name. after the exposure we both went in our opposite directions.