philo Loc: philo, ca

1957 joined the Navy to see the world

kenArchi Loc: Seal Beach, CA

These are great stories

StanMac Loc: Tennessee

My Dad had a Kodak Pony which he used to photograph us kids as we grew up. When I married as a sophomore in college, I decided I needed to buy a camera for my family photos. Everyone was using Instamatics at the time so I sprang for a Kodak Instamatic 500. I got bit by the photography bug and a couple of years later bought a Kodak Retina IIf rangefinder. From there I moved on to an SLR kit and a YashicaMat a few years later. I still have the Instamatic and the Retina and the YashicaMat. I still use the Retina and TLR occasionally. I would love to use the Instamatic but loading 35mm film into a 126 cartridge and then unloading it, then respooling it into a 35mm cartridge for processing seems a bit too much trouble at this point.

Stan

lmTrying Loc: WV Northern Panhandle

I always liked looking at pictures, that capture of historical memories/ events. Got to shoot a few with a bakelite box brownie. Un-inspiring. Then a few with instamatics. Better, but.... Finally, Dad let me try his Ansco Regent Super. Now we're talking. High school, college 69-73 where I took a few photography classes, clear up thru a cross country trip. On the trip I did learn the advantage of interchangeable lenses and started thinking about buying my own. The Ansco died on the trip leaving me with a lot of blank film and the motivation to move forward. After a lot of research, I purchased a Canon AE-1P. And the rest is history.

ELNikkor

Nice!

compilot Loc: ARIZONA

I was the yearbook photographer for my high school from 1956 to 1960. School had a 4x5 speed graphic with flash bulbs first year then a wet cell battery pack strobe for the next 2 years. I did not own a camera until in approximately 1963 when I was an Air Force Airman at Luke AFB, Arizona. A simple, leaf shutter name brand (don't remember) camera that served me well until I finally had the money to get my first Pentax Spotomatic in 1965.

Fredrick Loc: Former NYC, now San Francisco Bay Area

The birth of my daughter in 1971. I bought a used Miranda Sensorex SLR with a 50mm 1.4 lens for 50 bucks and took thousands of slides with it. When my son was born three years later I bought a new Minolta SRT-101 SLR with three prime lenses (50, 28, 105).
When my daughter went off to college in 1989 I stopped taking photos for 27 years. Then bought a Fuji X-T2 after I retired and am hooked again.

Marg Loc: Canadian transplanted to NW Alabama

Wow! I am truly envious of all you folks having enjoyed this amazing hobby from such young ages. My story is way different! In 2016 I answered an ad posted by a local photographer (near our cottage in Canada.) He was looking for permission to access properties where he could shoot sunrises. He came to our place most mornings that summer and the next and I watched from the window many times. I was amazed at the beauty he was able to capture. In the fall of 2017 our then 14 year old granddaughter announced that she was planning to take a photography class in the spring semester. I called the photography teacher at her high school and he told me that he would recommend a Canon T5 for the class so that’s what we gave her for Christmas. The more I thought about it the more I decided I should try so that she and I would have something we could do together. I asked my own personal Santa for a used T4i. (I was 67 years old!) It took till March 2018 before I worked up the nerve to even take a shot. Reading the manual was all Greek to me. When it finally “clicked” I was hooked! This has been an amazing hobby and I have met such wonderful people. I look forward to many more years!

bobmcculloch Loc: NYC, NY

Probably, at least for the main cameras, bought some just for fun when there were trade in sales, Fun ones, a Kodak 828, lost somewhere, Zeiss Ikon 16 shot 120, folder, 2 Minolta 16's (developed their BW film too), old polaroid land folder roll film, reg 8 movie, that's just off the top of my head. Used to buy short dated film and freeze it too. Working in photo retail did have some perks!

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

My uncle was a partner in an independent drugstore. He had some excess inventory, so when I was five, for my birthday, I got an Argus Seventy Five, with flashgun, 24 Press 25 flashbulbs, a roll of 620 Verichrome Pan, and a roll of Kodacolor. My parents were shocked to find that I liked the camera and had exposed both rolls within a couple of weeks. They had to put a limit on me... One 12-exposure roll per month.

By the time I was ten, I had made many dozens of snapshots. I was given three more cameras. At ten, I got one of those Sears junior darkroom sets with a contact print frame, some 5x7 trays, some Velox paper, chemicals, a Yankee tank with adjustable reel, and some mixing items.

THAT did it! I got an enlarger at 13, and a family friend loaned me a Canon FX with a nifty fifty on it. I read the manual a couple of times, loaded a roll of Tri-X, and went to a school football game. I was hooked. I began selling images to the yearbook and newspaper at school, and to friends and their parents. I subscribed to three photo magazines, and read them all. I bought several used books on photography and devoured their contents.

The next summer, I bought myself a Nikkormat FTn with a 50mm f/1.4 and a Vivitar shoe mount flash. I had a hobby I would combine with several other hobbies and skills to turn into a career.

first camera

Earnest Botello Loc: Hockley, Texas

I think I was always interested in photography from a very young age, my first real camera was a Minolta SRT-101 in 1971, it took great pictures and was my all-time favorite camera. I am an artist, so my next natural progression would be photography.

Joejan Loc: San Antonio, Texas

In 1951 in the US Navy, I bought a Bolsey Model B to take on my expected journeys around the world which did in fact happen. Later, with a new family, a Konica was used to make 2x2s (most of which I still have). Then, into the Nikon world, first with film then a D90 for a digital adventure. A GAS attack got me up to a D750 with some primes and a couple zooms. It still works pretty good and the SOOC jpgs are surprising. Now, having become an oulde codger, I treated myself to a Leica Q2 and am now experiencing a fixed fantastic lens and the "Leica look". Trade/sell the D750? Maybe, we'll see...

uhaas2009

Got a hand down from my mom because she couldn’t handle technical mechanics. I was about 14 years and a proud owner of a Minolta xg1. And I was the only one who used a camera in this time.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

I had some buddies in SA who had real cameras.
So as I was passing though Panama city I bought one as well.
I did later get a disk camera as it fit undetectable under my hat while in various locations where cameras were discouraged.
Got caught once only.

dbrugger25 Loc: Raleigh, NC

I got a Kodak Brownie when I was 10. That was 1954. My father was kind enough to buy B&W film, flashbulbs and processing for me. I loved it. A few years later, my older brother expressed some interest in having a darkroom so my parents bought everything he needed. I built the darkroom in my parent's basement. He quickly lost interest but I didn't. By that time my father had a Rolleiflex twin lens reflex and he allowed me to use it. I loved it but wanted more. As luck would have it my parents put my name on a church raffle ticket and I won $500.00. I bought a Speed Graphic 4X5 and a Honeywell electronic flash. Later, my father gave me the Rollei. I then bought a Canon Pellix, then an Canon AE-1 and later a Canon A-1. When I was older I bought an Olympus 5MP digital with a fixed lens, Then an Olympus E-1, Later an E-3 and fimnally an E-5. I thought 12 MP was the highest that resolution could go. I was wrong. Later I bought a Canon EOS 5D MK IV and now I have an EOS R-5 as well. Digital photography has developed to an amazing extent. I still have the Rolleiflex 2.8D and will never part with it. I began my journey at age 10 and now, at age 77 I am still awaiting the next photography innovations.