Everyone has a camera especially with cell phones. I assume that if you're here though there is something going on that makes you a little different from people who shoot pictures to load on facebook.
For me, I always had a camera as a kid. We traveled a lot, my parents are very outdoorsy and I was encouraged to take a lot of pictures and do little writeups on our trips.
Then it happened - a fabulous shot of the Colorado River from about Cedar Ridge in the Grand Canyon that did NOT turn out like I wanted. Granted, no picture of the Grand Canyon is like being there but I clued in that I was being held back by my equipment.
That was when I made the jump to SLR - not DSLR, nope SLR. Then digital cameras came out and it was so easy that I went back to point and shoot with photoshop being my salvation.
Now though, I'm back to feeling like I won't be happy without more control. Sadly I've forgotten everything I knew about SLR - or maybe I wasn't as good with it as I think I was.
My father was a serious amateur photographer - he had a Leica M3 when I was young. He got me interested in photography and taught me the basics of composition and exposure on a 35mm film SLR. I dabbled with photography all through the 1970's and 1980's, then became a point and shoot photographer in the 1990's until the digital revolution, when I got back into the hobby. I have been very serious about my work since 2009, when I bought my first really good digital camera. The bigger milestone was 2011, when I purchased my first DSLR, joined my first camera club, learned much more about exposure than my father ever taught me, learned the basics of post processing and won my first photography award. My evolution came from "taking pictures of pretty places and things" to "making photographs and creating art" - or at least attempting to make art.
I have always loved taking photos, from a very young age would buy disposable cameras to take pictures of anything and everything. Friends and family told me I was good and that I had a "natural eye".... I never took it any further until I had children. All of a sudden documenting something on a regular basis through photographs had never been more important. At this point I finally invested in a high spec point and shoot (I'd had many basic point and shoots), so that I had enough control to be able to manually do everything. I now have a Bridge camera and can not wait to get my hands on my first DSLR at some point this year :-)
I came here when I used to run a group for carers and one of the carers told me about it. At the time, my Mum was dying of cancer and I found that focusing on taking a pic each day helped me through what was a difficult time. It also gave me something to show Mum as it was difficult visiting her each day and I wanted to give her something interesting to look at rather than just sit and be sad. The support of people on the site was what really got me through. It is a wonderful community and I think (I'm sure I know) that I have improved with my photography and it has become a way of life. I love it and hope to progress to a DSLR. Shame Jessops has gone to the wall because I shall have to go to Cambridge about 30 miles away to look at cameras. I'm leaning towards Nikon as I have a bridge camera Coolpix P510 which I love but just want to progress further. Any advice would be welcome
I am a little like Rosie. I was on a personal journey of loss. At the beginning of this journey, I created a mantra "Fix your house and fix yourself". My eyes truly "saw" the world. I was obsessed with everything, the birds on my feeder, the colors of dusk, and used my point and shoot. After rolling it out of the car (by the way it doesn't bounce), I got encouragement from friends in 35mm film. I purchased my first dSLR (and first ever 35mm) in 2011, and found 365 in June of 2012. Photography has saved me from being angry, bitter, and falling into such a deep hole, never to recover. That's the God's honest truth! @aponi
I am a creative soul, I enjoy creating in any medium and wanted a camera to explore what I saw. My first DSLR was given to me for Christmas a year ago, loved the control I had in my hands, became addicted to the focus and zoom straight away... Wanted to capture everything I walked passed with beautiful light. After a snap happy year I think I have most of my surrounding neighbourhood well and truly captured and have become fussier with what I take... I now have the urge to try and create a more art driven shot. Have my sights set on learning editing programs next. Oh and I am trying hard to take the larger picture, the whole story and not just a close up of nature.
I've loved photography since I was a kid, proudly won a photography competition at 10... in my early 20's I spent 6 months on a photography course, using an SLR and learning how to develop film and process my shots in the darkroom. I enjoyed it a lot, but time and financial constraints put it on the backburner for many years after that. In my role as a teacher I was given a point and shoot digital camera to capture images of the kids learning, which got me back into taking photos regularly. Then as now, I enjoyed taking shots that capture a moment and/or a sense of character. We used images a great deal to record those learning moments for the kid, a great tool indeed for a teacher! Right now I'm on maternity leave and wanted to document my new family's development... and also to have some focus that's MINE and where I can continue to have a learning focus of my own outside of 'being a mum'. I'd love to have a DSLR to play with, but I do get a lot of satisfaction from my point and shoot - and am enjoying learning to get better shots with it, and about digital image processing too. Go 365!
When I was four, my dad bought me a point and click film camera from Boots. I used roll after roll after roll of film giving all my stuffed animals 'photoshoots' and there are albums in my parents' house full of photos of EVERYTHING.
My photo folders on my computer now are pretty much the same (less of the stuffed animals, though). In the meantime I've been through an Olympus point & shoot and am now attached at the hip to my Olympus DSLR.
I can remember as a small child being thrilled to bits whenever I was given a disposable camera to do whatever I liked with... my first "real" camera was a point-and-click film deal I got for Christmas when I was maybe 11, it was always such a thrill getting the prints back!
I didn't even own a digital camera until about 3 years ago when my mom gave me one as a college grad present... I was going to England with my aunt the next month and had a super time taking pictures with wild abandon! :) Before the trip though, I had played around with it quite a bit, and I loved the sense of control and effects I could get with the different settings. Going for walks to take pictures and just explore things with a camera also became kind of an escape and some "me time" before I moved out on my own... I can be kinda headstrong sometimes, and living in a house with parents of a similar personality was fun but sometimes interesting :)
Long story short, I've been told that I have "an eye for a good picture", and this project allowed me to explore that and learn some new things along the way. I'm not overly artistic in other ways, so to have photography as a way to accurately transfer the image in my head to something in reality is pretty cool :)
I have always loved photography. My dad was always the picture taker growing up and I guess I just took after him. I bought my first DSLR in 2010, made myself go totally manual last year, and now here I am. I'm hoping to upgrade my camera in a few months. I cannot imagine my life withOUT photography at this point!
My first camera was a Kodak Hawkeye, a box camera with no controls except the shutter. I took pictures of my teenage friends, my family, my dog. even enrolled in a high school camera class and discovered why my pictures weren't as sharp as I wanted. My first 35 mm experience was a Kodak Signet -- pretty basic but way more advanced than my first Kodak. I finally bought a nice Pentax 35 mm with money my uncle left in his will. I had a Minolta for a while but wasn't happy with it, then a Canon -- all film but automatic. I went through some point and shoot digital cameras but several years ago I bought a Canon Rebel DSLR. Now I have a 60D and am still trying to teach myself what I knew when I had that Pentax. I love photography and really enjoy 365.
I lost my beautiful best friend very suddeny 11 and a half months ago... Her baby boy was only 10 days old.. Its the first time in my life i have lost someone close to me... I have struggled for nearly a year to get back to being my normally bubbly self.. We have recently moved to a new state where i know no-one.. Im hoping project 365 wont only help me learn my equipment better but it will also get me out there and exploring my new home town... In the first two weeks it has already brought my mum and i closer... We live on opposite sides of australia and we are doing the project togehter (we are emailing our photos to each other).. Ive also already learnt so much about my camera.. Im really excited about the rest of the project...
Does anyone remember sending film away and then having to wait seemingly forever - 2 weeks as I recall to get them back? This sort of comment makes my nephews look at me like I have 2 heads.
I have always had a camera as long as I can remember . My dad had a polaroid b&w and I loved waiting for the photo to appear like magic . The first camera i remember owning was a kodak 110 camera. As a teenager I bought my first 35mm which was a Ricoh . I loved the excitement of having my films processed and hoping i got the perfect shot . I took a long time to move to digital because I felt it took the excitement away as you get instant feedback, Then in 2009 my camera decided to eat a couple of my films :( So in 2009 I bought my first Pentax digital (my daughter now owns it) Since then i have bought 2 more digitals and love the control my new bridge camera affords me. I hope to oneday have the money to buy a DSLR but for now will continue to play with my Fuji bridge cameras manual settings :)
I love the fact that so many dads that are mentioned here! My dad was an early adopter; I remember we had the first Polaroid camera around. I also vaguely remember a darkroom in the basement when I was very little. I have owned several cameras throughout my life, including a Canon SLR back in the 80s - but just got serious about learning how to take a decent photo when I bought a Canon 50D about three years ago. It was the DSLR in combination with photo editing software that "clicked" for me and everything came together. No pun intended.
@aponi Exactly the same story as yours. Had cameras all the time when I was a kid, graduating to my Dad's SLR when he got a new one. I later bought my own (film) SLR but gave it up for various reasons about 10 years ago and had a rather unsatisfactory p&s camera after that, followed by various phone cameras. Oh, and disposables, which are surprisingly good if you need to take something up a mountain or anywhere else dangerous.
A friend lent me a DSLR in the latter half of last year, but I had to give it back and bought my own. As you say, here I am. No matter where you go, there you are.
My mom bought be one of those cheap 110 mm film cameras when I was probably about 8 or 9. I can't tell you how many heads I cut off during the time frame I had that camera! I look back at all those pictures and get to identify people's torsos and legs!
I never got my own 35 mm camera, but my parents did let me borrow theirs when I was in high school. At 21, my parents bought me a digital camera. It was nice to be able to see whether or not I cut someone's head off, rather than waiting till film was developed. =)
When I turned 25, I broke down and bought my own DSLR. It wasn't until 2011 that I really started to break away from auto on it. And in 2012, I finally started shooting in manual rather than only shooting in aperture or shutter priority. =)
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My photo folders on my computer now are pretty much the same (less of the stuffed animals, though). In the meantime I've been through an Olympus point & shoot and am now attached at the hip to my Olympus DSLR.
I didn't even own a digital camera until about 3 years ago when my mom gave me one as a college grad present... I was going to England with my aunt the next month and had a super time taking pictures with wild abandon! :) Before the trip though, I had played around with it quite a bit, and I loved the sense of control and effects I could get with the different settings. Going for walks to take pictures and just explore things with a camera also became kind of an escape and some "me time" before I moved out on my own... I can be kinda headstrong sometimes, and living in a house with parents of a similar personality was fun but sometimes interesting :)
Long story short, I've been told that I have "an eye for a good picture", and this project allowed me to explore that and learn some new things along the way. I'm not overly artistic in other ways, so to have photography as a way to accurately transfer the image in my head to something in reality is pretty cool :)
A friend lent me a DSLR in the latter half of last year, but I had to give it back and bought my own. As you say, here I am. No matter where you go, there you are.
I never got my own 35 mm camera, but my parents did let me borrow theirs when I was in high school. At 21, my parents bought me a digital camera. It was nice to be able to see whether or not I cut someone's head off, rather than waiting till film was developed. =)
When I turned 25, I broke down and bought my own DSLR. It wasn't until 2011 that I really started to break away from auto on it. And in 2012, I finally started shooting in manual rather than only shooting in aperture or shutter priority. =)