cameraf4 Loc: Delaware

I started in photography to celebrate the beauty and wonder of the world around us. And, also, because I can't paint or sketch.

G Brown Loc: Sunny Bognor Regis West Sussex UK

It gets me out of the house, It is 'slow' work....looking around, actually looking! not a quick glance. Pondering angles and composition.
It was a technical challenge that has slowed down abit.
The hope that I could make some cash....haven't yet...!
It is faster than sketching!
Stops me watching TV or reading three books a week!

BebuLamar

I was first interested in photography because it could be done!

canon Lee

I suppose so. But I truly am interested in what everyone here thinks. Perhaps that is the reason I asked. I hope I didn't offend you.

TheDman Loc: USA

Why do you think people take photos?

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

December 1966, during my sophomore year at Purdue University, I was wandering downtown Lafayette, Indiana, with a friend of mine, when we went past a hobby store. In their window they had a Tyco "model" of a Burlington locomotive; it was a beautiful model - trouble was, I had been raised along the Burlington's mainline, and I'd never seen a locomotive like that. We got into quite a discussion, because he didn't believe that "Tyco just makes things up." A few months later, the Purdue Railroad Club sponsored a presentation by Jim Boyd, who was a well-known professional railroad photographer of the time. As I listened to Jim talk about the strange things he had seen, I realized that his slides were much more compelling than my memories, so that next summer, just over fifty years ago, I began photographing my world "today before tomorrow comes and everything changes".

Incidentally, we later determined that model was a hybrid, combining the silver paint of the Burlington's passenger locomotives {which went with understated / low key markings} and the bright markings of the Burlington's freight locomotives {which were painted a drab off-white color}

Leitz Loc: Solms

As if the UHH hasn't been polluted enough the past few months, more Chris T wannabes come out of the woodwork. Maybe the intelligent threads need the counterbalance, though.

hondo812 Loc: Massachusetts

My experience is probably similar to most folks. My Dad took pictures of the family, family outings, vacations, things like that.

I guess at about 12 or so years old the folks gave me my first camera, a Kodak 124 (cartridge film) and I took as many pictures as those cartridges let you.

Most were during trips in an around New England, vacations on the Cape, nothing eye popping. Probably the most interesting pic from that camera was at Mt Rushmore. Obviously that camera didn't have a zoom lens but they did have those gigantic binocular contraptions so I aimed and put my camera up to it and snapped. My Dad said it looked like I took a picture of a penny (just Lincolns head in the pic). Later on I got another pic at Monticello and moved up to a nickel.

I also use it to document some things. Modifications I made to my motorcycle, changes to the house, and general preservation for posterity type things....puppy, young dog, older dog....

I enjoy it but I wouldn't say that I am good at it. I'm fairly certain I would starve if I made tried to make a living doing it. I do ok with the mechanics of it but composition is definitely my weak spot.

sawdust_128

This may not answer your question directly, but I have come to photography so I would go to inspiring places. While in many of those laces, I have met some of the most unique characters in my life. I have pictures of them and it helps me to remember their stories. Treasured memories.

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

Great question--deserving of some thought, without getting annoyingly serious.
I have never been a pro---but since my Dad gave me a Brownie Starflex TLR over 50 years ago, I have taken pictures always hoping to capture a slice of life that is unique, definite, true. Snapping the shot is the possibility/promise of making an image that is compelling on its own, but also might reflect something about me.

jjanovy Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

For me it's not really a hobby because I'm also a writer and use photography in my writing research, project design, ideas, etc. But I also take hundreds of photographs of places that are important to me for a variety of reasons, and my photography tends to be similar to my writing in the sense that I'll be at one place and use several different lenses, from macro to wide angle to telephoto, capturing a "scene" in such a variety of ways that for me, at least, add depth to the experience. As a writer, I've filed a Schedule C since the late 1970s, and my tax accountant has approved the write-off of some photographic equipment, so if there is any way a person can connect his/her photography to a self-employed component to income, never call it a hobby.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

I like a challenge. And every day I use my camera it brings a new challenge or two. And it never gets old. Ever.

canon Lee

I have stopped responding to them....

canon Lee

You may have hit on something by your statement" might reflect something about me."

repleo Loc: Boston

The things that draw me to photography are:
1. The combination of technical and aesthetic.
2. The challenge of never ending learning
3. Creative outlet
4. Seeing the world differently
5. Excercise

I do it for pleasure and satisfaction. I aspire to being masterly someday, but doing it for money would take the fun out of it for me.