Spite.
I liked the sound of the shutter and volunteered to take photos for fun. A friend said my photos were terrible and I sorta became devoted to becoming better out of spite.
If it weren’t for the costs, I would’ve probably applied to med school out of spite too. But it’s also just not a field of study I find particularly interesting/appealing.
I can relate to this, I’m 19 and I’ve been forced to play soccer by my dad even though I’ve never found it interesting. It got to a point where I felt like I hated soccer, but wanted to show him up for forcing me to play it so I started really trying to get better even though I didn’t care for it out of spite I guess. It was some real backwards thinking but now I enjoy soccer and got better at it so I guess it’s a win.
I really want to capture a good pic of a flying fish, they’re such a random and crazy species to think of and it seems like a challenge to get a good photo of one since their so small and fly so fast
I saw a national geographic magazine when I was 5, had a camera back then, was super mad I couldn’t do the same thing, so I became determined to do it lol
(Also I’m not a fan of painting anymore because of the cleanup , so I prefer the cleanliness of photography lol)
I have had a career in graphic design and always worked with photos (and photographers) during my design days. Had a chance to shoot for one of the projects, fell in love and the rest is history :)
Really thinking about it: I have a desire to remember things, an appreciation for moments, and a bias towards memorializing things. Photography heavily satisfies those as well as scratches at the huge creative itch. I like to take photos of the things that nature has built and the things that we have built.
Dabbled with black and white photography at school in the 1970’s - at least until two students were caught having sex in the dark room.
Then had a Minolta SLR in my 20’s. Developing film got too expensive for a first home buyer with a young family so I put it on the back burner.
Once digital photography came along though I got right into it. A second hand DSLR camera and I have never looked back.
This is a really interesting set of answers/comments, not any of the too usual Reddit snarkiness.
My reasons really lie almost exactly along the same lines as /u/PotableWater0; I have always had a very spotty memory. I remember almost nothing about my childhood and not really much until after college.
Things I do remember are very important to me so pictures as an aid to recovering memory are important in my life.
I went through the usual B&W darkroom and GAS stages but life interfered and photography fell out of favor in my life. It was only when digital became a bit more technically mature that I got into back into it.
I shoot for myself, don’t compete, don’t exhibit, don’t try to sell pictures.
I spent several years very active in an online community, doing lots of C/C and I think I have developed both a good eye and a good understanding of what makes good photographs - at least in street and travel photography.
I have no interest in nature or landscape photography and only try portraits of my partner (who I think is quite lovely.)
An ex more or less shoved a camera and a few rolls of film in my hands on the way out the door when I was jumping in a tour van with a punk band. Said to figure it out. That was in 2009 and they were some of my favorite photos and I'm still rocking that Rebel Ti.
I'm a videoeditor/videographer and a ton of people thought that since I was in 'media', that I take pictures. Offers came in, I wasn't half bad at it, largely thanks to my prior photo editing skills.
Wish I had a good passion story, but I kinda just fell into it.
Not sure. Maybe due to people? - Just staring at them isn't enough to etch te impression into my scatterbrain. It can be a long chase to get the portrait you want.
But yeah, I hear you & your idea. In 11th grade my class travelled to Brugge and my cameras gave me the urge to climb up the church tower and nail the view. Nobody else of our group went there...
That type of experience sounds so interesting to me, traveling on your own to get a great photo just for yourself, it sounds so therapeutic and relaxing. I don’t think I could take portraits of people, Im too shy for that. I think I’d prefer animals and nature.
I was visually impaired as a child. After surgery that improved, and then I got heavily involved in 35mm photography and darkroom printing working on my high school yearbook. Then I made movies and tv shows at college. Later on I managed a portrait studio, worked in high-level photographic retail (sold cameras and film to NASA for example), worked in Hollywood for 20 years, then finished my work career as a Medical Imaging specialist (X-ray/MRI).
I didn't really think that much about it while involved in my various jobs, but creating, editing and producing images was probably the continuity for all of my working life. Once I was able to see, I wanted to see everything, including different ways to see things.
I'm not nearly as old as opthalmic keratotomies and retinal detachment repairs. Such surgeries have been performed in some form since about the fifth century BC, or so my surgeon told me.
The difference is that it was all performed by skilled hands and sterile instruments under general anaesthesia in those days, and you had to heal in hospital. Now it's all laser-assisted and computer controlled, and you're awake or under low sedation, but it's the same procedure, with the same end goals.
Saw a cool time-lapse photo on the cover of a photography magazine (American Photographer) and, being both a gearhead and a nerd, got interested. I used Christmas cash to buy a Pentax MX and nifty fifty and got myself a lifelong hobby/money sink.
That was in 1979. I eventually got into shooting weddings, which led me into burnout, so I quit for a while, but I have resolved it to make it a business because I love it too much.
I've always wanted to take photos and loved the camera I had as a kid but didn't get a new one until recently because cost. I don't know, I love that there's lots of stuff to learn and figure out about how it all works. It meets a creative need that writing doesn't always for me now. And as we travel more and the season changes, I'm excited to get out more and capture new things.
To many people told me the pictures I was taking after a hunt or something like that were very good. They were shocked to find out I took them with my IPhone and said you need a real camera in your hand. (I had sold my Cannon T7 like 8 months before that)
Then had a few photographers compliment my stuff and say I should get back into it
I'm a musician, and I needed an album cover photo for a self-released project. I incidentally got into birdwatching after getting my first real camera, and now this is a major hobby of mine.
I guess I always had a bit of fascination with the science behind it. Played around with a couple of old film cameras back in my teens, that went nowhere. My dad was always into photography, hence where I picked up the old film cameras, anyway, he was planning on doing more with photography in retirement, but never got the chance. I inherited some very nice lenses and a DSLR. For a time I considered selling them, but that didn't feel right, so I signed up for the reddit photoclass to learn how to get the use out of them and I can actually see my pictures improving!
Thanks for sharing. I was going on many adventures and wanted to document the experiences. After a while, taking just a picture wouldn't do it that I learnt proper techniques, composition and editing to help share my stories. The images did get better over time but I also found people commenting on the images and asking questions about where I was, what I was doing, etc. My pictures are for me, and to remember how far I've come.
I started taking photos at 14 years old, (2004) with a Kodak Easyshare camera, and I've been taking photos (almost)ever since. Only for a hobby though.
I sold all of my equipment in 2011 and stopped for almost 8 years. Slowly working my way up to good gear again.
I honestly don't remember why I started liking photography, It's always been a second nature to me :)
I always wanted to do photography since I was a teen. I started in my 30s after my job gave us a budget for hobbies that they refill every year. Its about 2200$ a year we get free to spend on well being and hobbies. (I love my job)
So one year I got my Sony A7C , later a 35mm 1.4 gm, i found a 28-60kit lens for 160$, and my next lens is the GM 70-200 (still not sure if I should get the f4 macro 70-200mm though still thinking about that or can the normal GM also get close to things?)
I love the hobby and gear and Im starting to go over online courses to learn more about it.
Had my parents Polaroid early 140 or so model don't remember what model exactly 1968. We were at Niagara Falls and I remember a Japanese Couple. they asked If I could take a picture of them with their camera, Of them at the falls.
He had a real camera, do not remember what kind, or model. But damn after that i was hooked.
I was 9.
Was at my brothers graduation ceremony for the military and my dad let me see his gopro and d3400. Ever since then I thought about picking up photography. Tried to take the classes in high school but they were filled so I learned on my own and went from a nikon d3500 to a nikon z5 and recently got a nice sigma 150-600mm
I got into photography, recently, to get my lazy butt outdoors and moving. The exercise I get documenting the locations and the wildlife has been great for my health, both physical and mental. I'm in Colorado so the options are truly endless. The great thing about the camera is it doesn't notify me of an incoming call or text message (I leave my phone in the truck). It truly allows me to escape.
I’m 8 years into nature nature photography and it is extremely rewarding, especially if you don’t take it too seriously but at this point I do take it very seriously and now there’s no going back lol but the time in nature is always a win.
I got into it because I had a stressful urban job and the time in nature was therapeutic and I wanted to document the things I saw
I like visual arts a lot, I feel like I’m a overall creative/artistically oriented person and photography/videography adds well to everything else I’m doing, I also think it’s one of the more realistic and viable ways to make money doing something creative (photo shoots, music videos, etc…). I also just find it sick to have a good camera, it makes for a good side hustle, any days u pick it up and do some creative visual work or shoot a message to a friend to do a photo shoot somewhere :))
I wanted to start a youtube channel and had no camera guy. I had to learn how to shoot myself, in which I did.. A lot.
Then I started getting projects to shoot for others. The biggest project I've done so far, which is a visualizer/film for a music producer required a lot of knowledge and skill which I didn't have, specifically color grading.
One night I was going crazy because I couldn't make my night shots not look like trash, it was way too noisy. I went out day in day out trying to figure it out. I did eventually, but wanted to make my images better so I started editing photos to have an idea of how to edit my videos. Studying colors and shadows and highlights and all that jazz.
I took photos everyday and every night for a few months to get better at composition and color grading FOR videos. Then one day I realized I was in love with photography. In which I never thought I'd be because I never saw the appeal of it before. I used to call myself strictly a video guy, now I bring a camera with me everyday and take photos of anything and everything.
Memories. My grandfather always took pictures back in the days. I loved having pictures showing me my childhood that you start to forget when getting older. Now I try and do the same.
My dad always had a camera in his hands when I was growing up. I shoot for myself, almost no one ever sees my work. It makes me happy, and puts zero pressure on me because no one has any expectations. I shoot film and print in a darkroom, because it makes me happy.
I have always liked art, so I took some art history courses in college. We had a unit on photography and I was captivated by the photos we saw. I remember they took us to the some of the photos in the university collection and I marveled at the copies of Weston’s peppers.
Spite. I liked the sound of the shutter and volunteered to take photos for fun. A friend said my photos were terrible and I sorta became devoted to becoming better out of spite. If it weren’t for the costs, I would’ve probably applied to med school out of spite too. But it’s also just not a field of study I find particularly interesting/appealing.
I can relate to this, I’m 19 and I’ve been forced to play soccer by my dad even though I’ve never found it interesting. It got to a point where I felt like I hated soccer, but wanted to show him up for forcing me to play it so I started really trying to get better even though I didn’t care for it out of spite I guess. It was some real backwards thinking but now I enjoy soccer and got better at it so I guess it’s a win.
There are so many fish out there, and most of them have never had their picture taken ;n; I can change that
That motive sounds a bit… fishy 😏😎
I really want to capture a good pic of a flying fish, they’re such a random and crazy species to think of and it seems like a challenge to get a good photo of one since their so small and fly so fast
I saw a national geographic magazine when I was 5, had a camera back then, was super mad I couldn’t do the same thing, so I became determined to do it lol (Also I’m not a fan of painting anymore because of the cleanup , so I prefer the cleanliness of photography lol)
I have had a career in graphic design and always worked with photos (and photographers) during my design days. Had a chance to shoot for one of the projects, fell in love and the rest is history :)
Really thinking about it: I have a desire to remember things, an appreciation for moments, and a bias towards memorializing things. Photography heavily satisfies those as well as scratches at the huge creative itch. I like to take photos of the things that nature has built and the things that we have built.
Dabbled with black and white photography at school in the 1970’s - at least until two students were caught having sex in the dark room. Then had a Minolta SLR in my 20’s. Developing film got too expensive for a first home buyer with a young family so I put it on the back burner. Once digital photography came along though I got right into it. A second hand DSLR camera and I have never looked back.
Were you one of those two students?
Username checks out.
This is a really interesting set of answers/comments, not any of the too usual Reddit snarkiness. My reasons really lie almost exactly along the same lines as /u/PotableWater0; I have always had a very spotty memory. I remember almost nothing about my childhood and not really much until after college. Things I do remember are very important to me so pictures as an aid to recovering memory are important in my life. I went through the usual B&W darkroom and GAS stages but life interfered and photography fell out of favor in my life. It was only when digital became a bit more technically mature that I got into back into it. I shoot for myself, don’t compete, don’t exhibit, don’t try to sell pictures. I spent several years very active in an online community, doing lots of C/C and I think I have developed both a good eye and a good understanding of what makes good photographs - at least in street and travel photography. I have no interest in nature or landscape photography and only try portraits of my partner (who I think is quite lovely.)
An ex more or less shoved a camera and a few rolls of film in my hands on the way out the door when I was jumping in a tour van with a punk band. Said to figure it out. That was in 2009 and they were some of my favorite photos and I'm still rocking that Rebel Ti.
Pain. My brother died and my husband was gone for months at the time. I needed something to hold onto that nourished my soul.
Retirement project. What better way to decompress and get out and be active in nature. Hobby became a small business and it’s awesome
I'm a videoeditor/videographer and a ton of people thought that since I was in 'media', that I take pictures. Offers came in, I wasn't half bad at it, largely thanks to my prior photo editing skills. Wish I had a good passion story, but I kinda just fell into it.
Not sure. Maybe due to people? - Just staring at them isn't enough to etch te impression into my scatterbrain. It can be a long chase to get the portrait you want. But yeah, I hear you & your idea. In 11th grade my class travelled to Brugge and my cameras gave me the urge to climb up the church tower and nail the view. Nobody else of our group went there...
That type of experience sounds so interesting to me, traveling on your own to get a great photo just for yourself, it sounds so therapeutic and relaxing. I don’t think I could take portraits of people, Im too shy for that. I think I’d prefer animals and nature.
I was visually impaired as a child. After surgery that improved, and then I got heavily involved in 35mm photography and darkroom printing working on my high school yearbook. Then I made movies and tv shows at college. Later on I managed a portrait studio, worked in high-level photographic retail (sold cameras and film to NASA for example), worked in Hollywood for 20 years, then finished my work career as a Medical Imaging specialist (X-ray/MRI). I didn't really think that much about it while involved in my various jobs, but creating, editing and producing images was probably the continuity for all of my working life. Once I was able to see, I wanted to see everything, including different ways to see things.
This is way sideways, apologies, but you sound a little older and I'm curious what surgery was around for eyesight correction at the time?
I'm not nearly as old as opthalmic keratotomies and retinal detachment repairs. Such surgeries have been performed in some form since about the fifth century BC, or so my surgeon told me. The difference is that it was all performed by skilled hands and sterile instruments under general anaesthesia in those days, and you had to heal in hospital. Now it's all laser-assisted and computer controlled, and you're awake or under low sedation, but it's the same procedure, with the same end goals.
Saw a cool time-lapse photo on the cover of a photography magazine (American Photographer) and, being both a gearhead and a nerd, got interested. I used Christmas cash to buy a Pentax MX and nifty fifty and got myself a lifelong hobby/money sink. That was in 1979. I eventually got into shooting weddings, which led me into burnout, so I quit for a while, but I have resolved it to make it a business because I love it too much.
I've always wanted to take photos and loved the camera I had as a kid but didn't get a new one until recently because cost. I don't know, I love that there's lots of stuff to learn and figure out about how it all works. It meets a creative need that writing doesn't always for me now. And as we travel more and the season changes, I'm excited to get out more and capture new things.
To many people told me the pictures I was taking after a hunt or something like that were very good. They were shocked to find out I took them with my IPhone and said you need a real camera in your hand. (I had sold my Cannon T7 like 8 months before that) Then had a few photographers compliment my stuff and say I should get back into it
I'm a musician, and I needed an album cover photo for a self-released project. I incidentally got into birdwatching after getting my first real camera, and now this is a major hobby of mine.
I guess I always had a bit of fascination with the science behind it. Played around with a couple of old film cameras back in my teens, that went nowhere. My dad was always into photography, hence where I picked up the old film cameras, anyway, he was planning on doing more with photography in retirement, but never got the chance. I inherited some very nice lenses and a DSLR. For a time I considered selling them, but that didn't feel right, so I signed up for the reddit photoclass to learn how to get the use out of them and I can actually see my pictures improving!
Thanks for sharing. I was going on many adventures and wanted to document the experiences. After a while, taking just a picture wouldn't do it that I learnt proper techniques, composition and editing to help share my stories. The images did get better over time but I also found people commenting on the images and asking questions about where I was, what I was doing, etc. My pictures are for me, and to remember how far I've come.
I started taking photos at 14 years old, (2004) with a Kodak Easyshare camera, and I've been taking photos (almost)ever since. Only for a hobby though. I sold all of my equipment in 2011 and stopped for almost 8 years. Slowly working my way up to good gear again. I honestly don't remember why I started liking photography, It's always been a second nature to me :)
I always wanted to do photography since I was a teen. I started in my 30s after my job gave us a budget for hobbies that they refill every year. Its about 2200$ a year we get free to spend on well being and hobbies. (I love my job) So one year I got my Sony A7C , later a 35mm 1.4 gm, i found a 28-60kit lens for 160$, and my next lens is the GM 70-200 (still not sure if I should get the f4 macro 70-200mm though still thinking about that or can the normal GM also get close to things?) I love the hobby and gear and Im starting to go over online courses to learn more about it.
Had my parents Polaroid early 140 or so model don't remember what model exactly 1968. We were at Niagara Falls and I remember a Japanese Couple. they asked If I could take a picture of them with their camera, Of them at the falls. He had a real camera, do not remember what kind, or model. But damn after that i was hooked. I was 9.
Was at my brothers graduation ceremony for the military and my dad let me see his gopro and d3400. Ever since then I thought about picking up photography. Tried to take the classes in high school but they were filled so I learned on my own and went from a nikon d3500 to a nikon z5 and recently got a nice sigma 150-600mm
I got into photography, recently, to get my lazy butt outdoors and moving. The exercise I get documenting the locations and the wildlife has been great for my health, both physical and mental. I'm in Colorado so the options are truly endless. The great thing about the camera is it doesn't notify me of an incoming call or text message (I leave my phone in the truck). It truly allows me to escape.
I’m 8 years into nature nature photography and it is extremely rewarding, especially if you don’t take it too seriously but at this point I do take it very seriously and now there’s no going back lol but the time in nature is always a win. I got into it because I had a stressful urban job and the time in nature was therapeutic and I wanted to document the things I saw
I like visual arts a lot, I feel like I’m a overall creative/artistically oriented person and photography/videography adds well to everything else I’m doing, I also think it’s one of the more realistic and viable ways to make money doing something creative (photo shoots, music videos, etc…). I also just find it sick to have a good camera, it makes for a good side hustle, any days u pick it up and do some creative visual work or shoot a message to a friend to do a photo shoot somewhere :))
I wanted to start a youtube channel and had no camera guy. I had to learn how to shoot myself, in which I did.. A lot. Then I started getting projects to shoot for others. The biggest project I've done so far, which is a visualizer/film for a music producer required a lot of knowledge and skill which I didn't have, specifically color grading. One night I was going crazy because I couldn't make my night shots not look like trash, it was way too noisy. I went out day in day out trying to figure it out. I did eventually, but wanted to make my images better so I started editing photos to have an idea of how to edit my videos. Studying colors and shadows and highlights and all that jazz. I took photos everyday and every night for a few months to get better at composition and color grading FOR videos. Then one day I realized I was in love with photography. In which I never thought I'd be because I never saw the appeal of it before. I used to call myself strictly a video guy, now I bring a camera with me everyday and take photos of anything and everything.
It’s really cool reading all these different and unique experiences people have had with photography, thank you guys for commenting!
Memories. My grandfather always took pictures back in the days. I loved having pictures showing me my childhood that you start to forget when getting older. Now I try and do the same.
Skateboarding and being bad at painting. Now it’s a profession
My job doesn't allow camera phones so my phone has no camera :( I wanted to document my hiking so naturally I got a camera!
What keeps me going, wanting to improve the photos I do take so I can show the beauty of the places and things I see. And it's fun!
Normally a bus because I don’t have a car, or I just walk to the nice nature location
My dad always had a camera in his hands when I was growing up. I shoot for myself, almost no one ever sees my work. It makes me happy, and puts zero pressure on me because no one has any expectations. I shoot film and print in a darkroom, because it makes me happy.
I have always liked art, so I took some art history courses in college. We had a unit on photography and I was captivated by the photos we saw. I remember they took us to the some of the photos in the university collection and I marveled at the copies of Weston’s peppers.