Weekly Poll: How long have you been photographing for?

[Nicole]

A little late with this week's poll, but it's here now

This week we'll take a little change from the usual 2 choices. I'm curious how long people have been seriously photographing for. It's up to you how you define seriously photographing. But let's go with, when you first started enjoying photography.

Feel free to share a story or two. We've looked at this question a bit before, but now that the community has grown so much I think it will be interesting to see if people are new or old to the hobby. So, how long have you been photographing for?

[igor.yermak]

I have been photographing seriously since Febuary 2007

[Nicole]

Ok, hopefully it's not too bad of form to reply to my own post, but if I don't do it now, I know I'll forget since this week is far too busy

I know I'm young-ish (comparatively) but I've been reasonably serious about photography for quite a long time. I loved my polaroid and my pocket instamatic (it was pink with a blue button for the film advance, and the flashes were the coolest thing). I'm sure that my mom has albums filled with my pictures. I know I remember putting them into albums, and I have a suspicion that they're still around. And then I had a pretty decent point and shoot film camera, but it always sucked because I'd cut people's heads off because looking through the viewfinder didn't give you the same view as the lens got. And then I got a film SLR for a trip, and I was pretty happy with the pictures I took there. Film was expensive though, and for a Christmas I got a digital point and shoot (I still have that one, and the film SLR... both are Canon ). Eventually I got my d50, which I love.

So I'd say that I've been seriously into my photography for longer than I've had my d50. It was always about producing pictures as good as mom lol now I get compliments from her. So it's taken a while, but I think that it was all leading up to where I've gotten to so far.

[Chlobo]

Hmmm. I wish I was one of those kids that got a polaroid! Or any sort of camera as a youngin for that matter. But I didn't. I remember Mum just always used to use her film camera and I always wanted to use it but I very rarely got to because the film was so expensive.
Then a couple yeas ago my brothers both got a digital camera, it was only a crappy little Kodak (oh woops that is not meant to offend Kodak users, but it was just a real cheapy is what I mean), but at the time I thought it was the coolest thing. I used to use Tim's sometimes. It is his that I took a couple really cool kitty photos that I still love today.
And then at the start of the year Tim was off to The Navy so before he left he bought everyone presents. I'm really not sure why but yes. He bought Mum and Shell a digital camera, and got me a CD, So yeah I was pretty jealous! Lol.
So from then on I kindof used Mum's alot... it was quite annoying for her, she could never find it because it was always in my hands! "Chloe have you got my camera again? I need it!", "But I need it!!".
Ha ha ha.
So I would say that it was a couple months into the year that I actually got really into it and started saving for my own.

And now I have one! Canon ixus 70 and I love it with my whole heart.

Here's to many more (hpefully excellent) photos!!

[wulf]

I opted for 3-5 years but really can't put my finger on it. I know that March 2001 was significant because my wife and I took a two week holiday in the US and bought a digital camera to help capture the experience. Previously we took pictures with a cheap film camera and I sometimes scanned them in to print or manipulate but this made it possible to capture digital images directly. I began thinking more about the pictures I was taking although I relied a lot on post processing to work round the limitations of the camera (a Fujifilm Finepix 1300 Zoom).

Getting my Nikon D40 for Christmas last year was another significant step forward; however, that only happened because I was already spending more and more time trying to develop my photographic skills and artistry.

Therefore, I have gone for an average. I can not claim to be brand new and I have not got the years of experience that I have for some of my other pursuits but "3 - 5" (and hopes of plenty more ahead) sums it up well enough.

Wulf

[Jamesc359]

I fell in love with photography when I got my first camera (about 7 years ago) for Christmas. A Polaroid PDC-640. As the name suggests it was a digital camera with a whopping 640x480 resolution.

Before then I had occasionally taken photos with one of my sisters old film camera's. I never really got into it before then because of the cost, the lengthy time it took to get pictures back, and etc.

My digital camera on the other hand provided cheap and virtually instant gratification. With the aid of the LCD there was never any doubt in my mind if I had missed a shot or not. A quick connection with the computer and my initial observations were confirmed, I was the best photographer in the world.

To this day it still surprises me how many of my shots turned out quite well, even though I had never read a thing about photography. Who needs the blueprints to the wheel when you can take countless pictures and reinvent it on your own.

*Holds up his oblong wheel with pride*

Today I shoot with a much better 5MP point & shoot camera. Aging as it may be, I hope to keep it around for a while longer. At least until I can afford an entry level DSLR.


I decided to go with 5-10 years. I'm very much aware that I still have a lot to learn though. But I intend to enjoy every minute of it.

[cathyetta]

Just since my husband bought me a D200 for Xmas last year 2006, have I been passionate about photography.

[Saralonde]

I'm not sure exactly where I am on this one. Guess I have to go with decades (decades?) because I was fairly serious with film photography years ago, but a busy life and the cost of film had me putting my Pentax aside for awhile. My interest started to come back with our first point and shoot Olympus about 4-5 years ago. But it was when I got my dslr in 2005 that I really got more serious again. Maybe I should check off the "some time" category.

See what happens when you give too many choices, Nicole?

[matthewchj]

I have been taking pictures for a long time, about 4 years. However, I only got into it really, really seriously when I got my DSLR at the beginning of this year.

[Taallyn]

I went with "Not long" myself. I've "enjoyed" photography for decades, but could never really pursue it "seriously" until I got my D80 this past spring. Prior to that I couldn't really justify the film processing costs in order to actually learn photography. Plus, the automated processing services never really seemed to do more that a servicable job at developement. Prior to getting the D80 I really couldn't put the entire exposure thing into place. F-stops, apperature, ISO, DoF, hyperfocal distances, etc. were just numbers in manuals and my 1hr-service processed photos never seemed to be significantly different regardless of camera settings I used. I realized that I would have to develop my film myself to really start to understand the process, but that was something I just didn't have the room, money, or time for.

I think the best thing going digital has done for consumers, at least for this consumer, is taking the chemical darkroom out of the equation and making photographic "development" much more accessible to the average person. It is so much easier, and cheaper, to learn how exposure settings and camera setting impact the photograph.

So, I started trying photography back in the late 70s and 80s. It wasn't until spring of 2007 that I was finally able to take it "seriously".