Photographer Jim Loc: Rio Vista, CA

As far back as I can remember I was interested in visual arts. I enjoyed drawing, so in high school I took art (drawing and painting) and crafts (primarily jewelry making) classes, and continued painting throughout college and the early years of my marriage. Then kids came along and I discovered that tubes of oil paint and a two and four year old don't mix, and I packed my equipment in the closet, intending to pull them out at a future time. Along the way I acquired a 35mm film camera for taking photos while backpacking and getting shots of my boys, but never took photography all that seriously. Eventually, with the boys grown and retirement approaching, a friend peeked my interest in photography. I was looking for some creative outlet and decided to take a few courses in photography at the local community college. I had a great instructor who really helped get my creative juices flowing again. The more I learned, the more interested I became. Soon I had joined a camera club and started entering my images in club competitions. I did well, possibly because my painting background worked as a good foundation for composition.. I jumped from " intermediate" level to " master" level quickly, and started garnishing awards at other regional and state competitions.

As my interest in photography grew, so did my desire to travel to some new places in search of new (or preferred) subjects to shoot. One day, my wife offhandedly commented that if I wanted to continue to take photography trips I had better find a way to pay for it other than raiding the grocery budget! Although the comment was made somewhat in jest, it started a discussion which led to a decision to give trying to sell my work a try. I started by joining an artist's coop gallery, which led to a few other gallery spots, but selling through galleries was not very productive. Between gallery fees and commissions I wasn't making much profit. So .....

We decided to try the art festival market. We did a lot of planning, took the risk and invested in a canopy, display panels, small trailer, frames, glass, etc. We applied to shows and were very pleased when we were juried into a number of them. That was a year and a half ago. The results have been very pleasing. And if this year is as successful, we will have paid off our initial capital outlay by the end of the year.

The really neat part of it has been that my photography has afforded me the opportunity to meet many wonderfully creative artists (I got to meet, and was friended on FB but one of my favorite artists, Armado Pena!!!), talk to and share my work with the public, and best of all travel to great places on the West Coast as I travel to shows. Last year I had the chance to photograph in New Mexico, Oregon and Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and Utah all as a part of doing art festivals. Granted, it is a HUGE amount of work, and took a substantial monetary risk, but it has resulted in a wonderful adventure. It's a journey I never would have predicted, but one I am very thankful for.

marcomarks Loc: Ft. Myers, FL

My parents bought my brother and I Pentax SLRs in 1972. I didn't make money with photography until around 1974 when I sold one B&W 8X10 of a famous rock bass player in an oval frame. I was so proud! I won a 2nd place and 1st place at a pretty large camera club in Ohio. They were ribbons and not cash prizes.

It was the 1980s before I shot a few weddings with a 35mm Nikon F3HP and an FM backup. My photography was mostly hobby, scenic vacation slides, and family until 1989 when I started doing a lot of photography to support technical articles I was writing in the electrical generation and distribution field, then articles about commercial and industrial construction and development.

I've also done a couple digital weddings and a couple music industry trade magazine covers and a bit of product photography for an injection molded plastic products manufacturer, but nothing to brag about.

Now I'm doing mostly real estate for pay, family and get together parties with friends for free, and have little time available for casual hobby photography - which is sad because I live in very photogenic Southwest Florida now.

David Popham Loc: French Creek, British Columbia

I started out in grade 5 with a Kodak Brownie. I took my first "abstract expressionist" picture at that time. (It was a double exposure <grin>.

Shutter Bugger

My father had an Agfa Optima and shot 35mm colour transparencies with it.

1964, 65 ,66 his annual leave of 4 weeks coincided with my school holidays. We did road trips; the first was where we live; Melbourne to Surfers Paradise. 65 we did Melb/Alice springs. There was no real road up through the centre of Australia then. It was deserts of sand and "gibba gibba". Quite an adventure in an AP6 Valiant wagon.
Next year was much the same except we went all the way up to Darwin... there was a sealed road from Alice to Darwin though.
Unfortunately he met my alcoholic, chain smoking, pathologically lazy step mother on that trip... No more of anything after that...
her bad habits absorbed his and my income.

Anyway, he taught art, and new how to compose an image. He was technically minded as well, so the thousands of slides from that old camera were pretty good viewing. Unlike most "slide nights", the old mans were not a test of endurance. At that point, I was about ten years old & realized very interesting images could be created with a camera. However I left the shooting to dad. About 10 years later I saw a Zenit SLR with a fast wide angle lens that belonged to my girlfriend. The precision of this machine fascinated me... I picked it up and Photography turned into a hobby.

It was about 15 years later when I made a few dollars with a Nikon FM. A camera that served me well for about 25 years.

My avatar is an image captured with that camera around the mid 80s if I remember correctly.

THISTLE Loc: Reidsville NC

I started in the Navy in "66. I bought a used Leica with 3 lenses. I upgraded to a Pentax Spotmatic and eventually a Nikon FTN. Tje prices from the APO dealers were fantastic. I remember seeing a Hassleblad for less than $500.
After the service I was in and out of photography depending on marriage(s) and work.
Now that I'm retired I carry my camera everywhere.

alliebess Loc: suburban Philadelphia

My father sent me off to school with his Ansco folding bellows film camera once a year to photograph classmates beginning in 2nd grade. Received a box Kodak of my own in 6th grade, bought a 35mm Kodak Signet in high school. Finally got a Pentax K1000 SLR after I married. First digital camera about 7 years ago, 1st DSLR late 2012. Still an amateur.

RobertW Loc: Breezy Point, New York

Started many years ago with a Kodak--upgraded over years to using a Hasselblad and Nikon Gear while living in Qatar where opportunity for photography was unbounded, then to Leica while living in South Americas--Now had to reduce weight, bulk and am quite happy with Oly OMD EM5 and Oly EP3--Love their 12mmf2.0...Middle East photography was a necessity re maintaing records of City and State's growth, same in South Anerica---and sense of improving technique(s) over the years was greatly satisfactory way of recording crazy life

Batchain Loc: Norwich, Norfolk, UK

My parents gave me a Box Brownie in 1947 or 8. I got into developing and printing the B&W films, but the results weren't too brilliant.
Then one of our school-teachers, Captain Fleming, started a photo club; he provided all the gear, including some lovely rosewood half plate cameras. He taught us a lot about composition, rule of thirds, and how to process films and prints properly.
I used an Olymus OM1 at work, and got into digital with a Canon Powershot G1 in about 2001. Attached is one of the first with that camera.
I've just taken a coourse in Elementary Digital Photography, and realise I've a lot to learn. Bought myself a Canon Eos 650D (Rebel4) a few weeks ago and struggling to learn that one.

Butterfly

marcomarks Loc: Ft. Myers, FL

Well... I also started out asking to use our family Kodak Brownie at an early age, and I had 126 film cartridge cameras in junior high and high school.

cony25

Wow Jim, my story is very similar, except I had a career change,,,started painting first, then I disscovered that I needed more training, that is when I turned to photography,,,then realized that if I wanted to continue this hobby, I had better start making some money, and I have...Everywhere I travel my camera comes first.....

cony25

Beautiful story,, how our parents have an intense influence in our life..

minimdot Loc: Essex

so much to to see a photo round every corner always be at the ready will send you some pictures later as they are on my external hard drive.enjoy your birthday.

rcirr Loc: Gilbert, Arizona

A great story! Not many people "luck" into a career doing something they love. I'm starting to believe dreams can come true!

frangeo Loc: Texas

Shot my first wedding when I was 11. ( family wedding ) Everybody thought it was so cute. My father was so proud of me until they saw the pictures. It cost my father a bundle making all the reprints for all the family members. It took a while until I discovered that you could charge for that service. Nothing like experience to help you improve your photography.

Bluegrassfan Loc: Kentucky

I was in the US Army in Jan 1968 - Dec 1970. In 1969, while in stationed in Germany, a group of us went to Austria. In Strausburg we went to a famous composer's home in addition to other points of interest. One of the guys had an Asahi Pentax Spotmatic camera. The rest of us had the "state of the Art" Kodak Instamatic Cameras. They were 126mm film in a cassette you just dropped into the camera, wound the film to the first exposure, then you were ready to shoot. The flash was a "flash cube" that rotated after each exposure until all four sides had rotated. Each side was a flash. When we got our pictures back from developing mine of the composer's home ware too dark to see. But the ones taken with the Pentax looked as if he had used a flash. He explained how you made adjustments to obtain a good exposure. I was hooked. The next month we went to the Baden-Baden Canadian PX and I bought one. the kit lens was a 50mm f/1.4 lens. I loved that camera. I eventually got a Vivitar (old version) 135mm f/3.5 lens. In 1976 I discovered it had been stolen along with about $1000 worth of photography stuff. My insurance paid $237. I found a brand new Nikon Nikkormat FT2 with an f/2.0 lens. I was working on my college degree at the time, and I took a press photography course at the university as one of my last two courses. We got 100 foot rolls of Kodak Tri-X film (400 ASA Black and White). We were not allowed to use flash. We loaded our own cassesttes since each photo assigents were 36 exposures. We developed our own film, exposed our own prints and developed them ourselves. I usually got to the darkroom before anyone else so I mixed all the chemicals (developer, fixer and water bath). When I had an assignment to photograph someone (i.e., a man with a beard) I would offer a free 8 X 10 photo (B & W of course). For the course we only needed to buy one box of 100 sheets of paper (we only printed one photo from each assignment for our portfolios). I went through four boxes. We also made a contact sheet for each assignment so we could look at it with a loop to seen which print(s) we wanted. To develp a print we might have to dodge or burn areas of the print (analog version of PhotoShop). When I complete my degree I learned that an uncle was getting into photography. He bought Canon products. He built a darkroom, I taught him hour to develop B&W and we learned color together. A few years later he asked me to help him photograph weddings. We eventually switched from 35mm to Bronica medium format. He passed away and I inherited all of his photo equipment. the darkroom stuff is in my basement, the cameras (he dropped on and destroyed it) and lenses are stored in a bedroom. I currently use the Nikon 50mm f/2.0 lens on my Nikon D7000. Just before the FujuFilm S3 Pro was put on the market I purched the S2 Pro. They use Nikon lenses. I purchased two full frame lenses which I also use on the D7000. I don't use auto anything much because I prefer manual. I don't want fool with dials on a lens when I can rotate the aperture ring quicker. And I don't like close objects getting the focus (auto) when it is in front of the main subject I am ttrying to capture. The flash system I used with the Nikkormat FT2 was a Vivitar (old) 283 system. It can still be used as a slave. I purchased a cheap Sunpak flash at Walmart to use until I decide which new one I want. I'm still reading the UHH user reviews and recommendations to see what other people think. There may be a full frame Nikon in the future, but not sure.