This evening I was rambling around in my head and got to thinking about why I started taking pictures in the first place. We won’t talk about it in this post, but I will in an upcoming post.
What got my attention while thinking about this was a simple question. Why does anyone start? It’s normally not to be famous, not to be “that guy”, or anything on that order. Something else started you. Something else started me.
So I want to know. What was it? I want to read comments. I want to post them. And then I’ll tell you my own motivation. Just don’t call me an “Idiot” in the comments like our recent poster Rico. That’s just a downer.
Oh, and to Twitter folks and Facebook folks. You can’t leave the answer on Twitter or Facebook. You’ve got to come to this site, this post, and comment. Really, I want to know. And so does everyone else. Come on, let’s hear it. You’ll get my story next week if you’re willing to leave yours here.
Comments 2
I don’t know that I ever made a conscious decision to get into photography. When I was a kid, I liked fooling around with my mom’s Instamatic and “wasting film” (meaning taking photos of anything other than groups of people saying, “Cheese!”). When I was old enough to have my own money (paper route at age 12), I dug out my grandpa’s old Land Camera and started messing around with that, then my parents got me one of the Kodak 110 cameras when film for the Land Camera started getting scarce. When one of my uncles died, my aunt offered me his Canon AE1 and I finally had a “real” camera, so I started doing a lot of reading and spent more than I care to think about on huge coffee-table books of various photographers. I never was very good, but I had a lot of fun trying to imitate various styles, etc.
When my eyes got bad enough I couldn’t focus the AE1 anymore I sort of gave it up. When digitals became semi-useful, I started back into it again simply because it was so cheap and autofocus more-or-less worked. I still don’t have a “real” digital camera (or Photoshop or even Lightroom) and most of what I take are just snapshots to document the various places we wander off to. I keep thinking about “getting serious” but other priorities like eating and paying the rent keep getting in the way. Someday….
In the meantime, I hang out at places like this and live vicariously. 🙂
Ever since I can remember I’ve been drawn to photography. I started asking for a camera around 5-6. My first camera was a cheap fisher-price point and shoot with a plastic lens. I didn’t get to use it a lot (photography was a pretty expensive hobby for a little kid)but I remember searching for that perfect shot every time I did. It felt so magical and I did think I was going to take an amazing photo and become famous :). I never really took photos of people, I would just wander and shoot objects that interested me. my parents wouldn’t let me use the camera when they weren’t watching me because they knew I would wander off.
I lost interest for a few years until high school and that’s when I really got into photography. I bought my first SLR (also a Canon AE1)and started developing my own film and making my own prints. Photography was a huge outlet for me and got me through some rough times.
Now I’m trying to figure out if photography is going to be a career or a hobby. It makes me a little sad but I think it’s going to be the latter. Making a living with a camera would be amazing but with the advent of digital photography the market has become so over saturated. While I’m not shooting much at the moment I would rather find another way to make money and save photography as my outlet.
I answered a few questions you didn’t ask but this is something I’ve been putting a lot of thought into lately ;).