What makes you embark on photography?
Jan 14, 2020 10:28:43 #
rmalarz wrote:
Why Photography? The question is easier to answer with a picture rather than 1000 words.
Where? I'm not really sure. However, I'm enjoying the journey.
--Bob
Where? I'm not really sure. However, I'm enjoying the journey.
--Bob
OMG, that’s exactly what I see and have the same results!
Jan 14, 2020 10:38:48 #
What a wonderful nostalgic thread.
Several comments here somewhat parallel my story. My father was a movie photographer using a wind-up Kodak 8mm camera. When he passed, it was given to me. I had used a Kodak instamatic for a few personal photos (more like snapshots really) while in school. When Dad's movie camera malfunctioned I purchased my first SLR, a Petri FT and several extras. I also picked up a Minolta 16mm "spy camera". My Petri recorded so many photos of my travels with the Navy and Marines (I was a corpsman [medic]) and I continued with it through my marriage until children interrupted and I slowed the photography. Along the way the Petrti had problems so I bought a Pentax K1000 SE and a couple lenses. Later I replaced the Petri with another one and still have it and the K1000.
Fast forward through a careeer with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Retirement gave me the initiative to return to photography. I had part time employment with a school photography company which used digital cameras and thus I entered the digital age with a Pentax istD. I now have two Pentax K-x and a K70 with a couple extra lenses. I also have studio monolights, backgrounds, reflectors, strobe flashes, and more. Obviously I had some GAS attacks.
My reason for photography is to record for myself (and family and friends, if they wish to view) where I've been, what I've seen, to recall my life and experiences, and to have the self satisfaction of making photographs. I have no set destination because it is the journey, not the destination that matters.
At 72 and contiuing, I hope to keep photographing my and my family's lives. Hopefully one of my three sons or two grandsons will take up the mantle into future generations.
Several comments here somewhat parallel my story. My father was a movie photographer using a wind-up Kodak 8mm camera. When he passed, it was given to me. I had used a Kodak instamatic for a few personal photos (more like snapshots really) while in school. When Dad's movie camera malfunctioned I purchased my first SLR, a Petri FT and several extras. I also picked up a Minolta 16mm "spy camera". My Petri recorded so many photos of my travels with the Navy and Marines (I was a corpsman [medic]) and I continued with it through my marriage until children interrupted and I slowed the photography. Along the way the Petrti had problems so I bought a Pentax K1000 SE and a couple lenses. Later I replaced the Petri with another one and still have it and the K1000.
Fast forward through a careeer with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Retirement gave me the initiative to return to photography. I had part time employment with a school photography company which used digital cameras and thus I entered the digital age with a Pentax istD. I now have two Pentax K-x and a K70 with a couple extra lenses. I also have studio monolights, backgrounds, reflectors, strobe flashes, and more. Obviously I had some GAS attacks.
My reason for photography is to record for myself (and family and friends, if they wish to view) where I've been, what I've seen, to recall my life and experiences, and to have the self satisfaction of making photographs. I have no set destination because it is the journey, not the destination that matters.
At 72 and contiuing, I hope to keep photographing my and my family's lives. Hopefully one of my three sons or two grandsons will take up the mantle into future generations.
Jan 14, 2020 10:41:31 #
Jan 14, 2020 10:42:54 #
wingclui44
Loc: CT USA
lilac wrote:
I had posted this question six years ago. I thought it would be fun to ask it again. I consider my photography as a journey. Why do you shoot and where do you want to go with it?
I considered photography will be a life long hobby and passion for me since early 1970. Life will not be always nice and smooth, it will get it's up and down moment! The hobby of photography will make me forgetting the moment of hard time that I had encountered, and gets me moving forward. Whenever I am holding my camera I will concentrate at that moment and not worry about anything, that will make my life much easier.
Jan 14, 2020 11:02:05 #
Jan 14, 2020 11:13:58 #
My love has always been nature. Some years ago I bought a canon t3i with an 18-200 kit lens. Then upgraded to a t7i and a 100-400 L series lens. I spend hours walking in the woods, or sitting in one spot waiting for the perfect photo op of a bird, butterfly, or other insect of some kind. This year, I was fortunate enough to have a raccoon family in a tree on my property, so got some sweet shots of them as well. I see beauty in the small things that most people don’t take the time to see. It preserves the beautiful things I see, so I can share them with others. In the near future I will publish a coffee table book. It is a true passion just to be outside with a camera.
Jan 14, 2020 11:20:21 #
rmalarz wrote:
Why Photography? The question is easier to answer with a picture rather than 1000 words.
Where? I'm not really sure. However, I'm enjoying the journey.
--Bob
Where? I'm not really sure. However, I'm enjoying the journey.
--Bob
Love the picture!
Jan 14, 2020 11:28:28 #
jerryc41 wrote:
I like devices and technology. Basically, I like "stuff." I bought my first camera when I was about 8 years old, and I've been using them ever since, continually finding a "better" model that is more technological and more fun to use. I hope I can resist buying the D780 to replace my D750.
When I was around the same age my mother gave me a small silver camera for my birthday. She showed me how to load film in the back of the camera and then I went out to play and take pictures. My friends didn’t believe it was a real camera so I opened the back to show them that there was film in it. I kept taking pictures and each time I ran into a friend I open the back to show them that there was film in my real camera.
Needless to say ....
From this thread I can deduce that you were a lot smarter than I was.
Jan 14, 2020 11:29:40 #
lilac wrote:
I had posted this question six years ago. I thought it would be fun to ask it again. I consider my photography as a journey. Why do you shoot and where do you want to go with it?
Fun and a record of projects and family.
Jan 14, 2020 11:35:02 #
rmalarz wrote:
Why Photography? The question is easier to answer with a picture rather than 1000 words.
Where? I'm not really sure. However, I'm enjoying the journey.
--Bob
Where? I'm not really sure. However, I'm enjoying the journey.
--Bob
OMG! Too funny!
Jan 14, 2020 11:43:54 #
Picture Taker
Loc: Michigan Thumb
Photography has made me see the world. It keeps you aware of things around you. How many people that are not photographers or artists say " what a beautiful sky" they are not looking at the world as we seemed to be. We are lucky as we see more of the world or should I NOTICE the world.
Jan 14, 2020 11:47:55 #
mlkddk
Loc: Colorado
Wise man once told me, always document where you have been. Didn't sink in until had granddaughters that spent a whole day looking at pictures of the family and asking a million questions.
Jan 14, 2020 11:57:46 #
rmalarz wrote:
Why Photography? The question is easier to answer with a picture rather than 1000 words.
Where? I'm not really sure. However, I'm enjoying the journey.
--Bob
Where? I'm not really sure. However, I'm enjoying the journey.
--Bob
YUP! EXACTLY!!! As a kid I always wanted to draw, paint, and sculpt (be a commercial artist)- I had visions but no ability. I tried but NADA! My art teacher said I woud be a good house painter! I wanted to be a musician too but my music teacher said I would be better at PLAYING baseball! I was, however, mechanically inclined- I could take things apart but putting them back together was another issue! My English teacher said I should become a doctor because I spoke just like doctors write! I was destined to be a man with no professional potential! I joined the wrestling team in high school and actually won a city-wide competition but the team was disbanded after a year for lack of student interest and funds. Not to be an athlete!
I took the the camera at an early age- got pretty good at it and one day found I coud make a living at it- still at it!
I'd love to make it sound more philosophical, romantic and all about self expressions but the aforementioned is the real story! I always enjoyed when my pictures made folks happy or emotional!
I still can't draw beyond stick figures!
Jan 14, 2020 11:58:14 #
Genessi
Loc: SoCal
Photography is my passion! I love the beauty in everything I see. When I am out shooting, I am not hungry, I am not cold or hot, I don't need water. I am in the moment with lots of patients. I enjoy the sound of the outdoors with the winds ruffling and the sounds of nature scurrying about. We are blessed to see beautiful flowers and animals that might not be here someday. Even without my camera in hand my eyes are always enjoying the beauty that surrounds me.
Jan 14, 2020 12:01:17 #
Picture Taker
Loc: Michigan Thumb
It opens your eyes to your brain. You not just see but it registers in your brain.
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