How long have you been doing photography for? (dated 20/02/11)

[Neare]

How long, as of 20/02/11, have you been practicing photography for?
And by practicing I mean starting with the point of investing serious personal funds and/or time into photography. ("My parents gave me a 110 camera when I was 6" doesn't count )


I am currently at 1 year, 4 months.

[Pickett Wilson]

51 years. I became obsessed with photography at 10 years old and never got over it. At 10, I was given, by a family friend, an old, even then, Speed Graphic. We set up a darkroom in a garage closet. And the rest is...well, history (man, I'm old).

[Traut]

Ditto to Pickett.

[colyn]

I've been heavily involved in photography for at least 50 years now as a result of the Leica IIIa with Summar my granddad gave me when I was 6. Still have that camera/lens and still use it from time to time..

I was already developing film before then..

[maddoc]

When I was teenager (13 or 14 years old), I bought my first "serious" camera, a "Praktika SLR" + 35mm lens as a set for DM 239 from RINGFOTO. I will never forget that day and some of the first shots that I took with it. I later added a cheapo zoom but never really used it ...

Besides that camera I used my father`s ROBOT with Schneider Kreuznach lens, it had an amazing quality !

[mooge]

In August of 2007, I borrowed a Canon F-1 kit and some books from a friend... a two years later I learned how to develop black and white, and last year I started doing my own prints...

[oftheherd]

I began using my father's gear about 52 years ago, using it for about 1 year. The military intervened. 7 years later, it became part of my job, but a minor part. 7 years later, it became a major part of my job, and a personal passion as well. 18 years ago life got in the way such that I don't take photos as much, nor is it the passion it used to be. But I haven't totally given up either. For the last few years I have collected a lot of the gear I thought I had always wanted. But I am beginning to realize it is the photos I want, not the gear. I try to take photos more.

Not the answer you were looking for, but the way it happened.

[benlees]

3 years 2 months. I wish I started earlier!

[ornate_wrasse]

54 years for me. When I was 9, I was taking photos with a Brownie Holiday camera. At that age, I developed some contact prints in the bathroom in my parents house. Still have those contact prints, too! In the early 1970's I bought my first SLR, a Mamiya-Sekor 1000 DTL at the PX at Ft. McNair in Washington, D.C. More recently, I got into rangefinders and use both the M6 and the M3.

It's been a fun ride.

Ellen

[back alley]

over 40 years...

[crawdiddy]

I said 30+. I count my college years (19) when my friend Lee Day got me hooked on B&W darkroom work. I was *literally* hooked from that time on, although I have had non-productive periods since that time. There's something about silver gelatin printing that gets you.

[kshapero]

1976 got my first RF fixed lens, so that makes um....um...ah...35 years.

[DNG]

+40 years for me.....
At around 1968 or so (age 14 or so) my Dad bought me a Voigtlander Prominent with a 50mm f/1.5 Nokton ($50.00 in Miami, Fl), and a BW darkroom set up.
The rest is history...

[newspaperguy]

Ouch - Well over 60 years now. Back in 1947 I started processing film in deep tanks* for a neighbor who operated the local photofinishing operation in her basement.

*The "tanks" were square sewer pipes standing on end. All hand labor back then.

[nikon_sam]

I started in high school (summer school) in 1975...got into photographing, developing film and prints too...been doing it ever since...still have my first real 35mm camera that my parents bought me in 1976...
35 years goes by pretty quick...
Started with 110 then 126 on to 35mm, later a big jump to 4x5 then down to 120...

[leica M2 fan]

65 years for me! It still feels like it was yesterday, I still get the same thrill when I'm out looking for photo-ops. I would like to have another 65 years in the future!

[Neare]

Looking at the poll currently it's great to see that RFF has such an experienced member base.

[andredossantos]

First from around 1995-2000 and even though I was a teenager but I was pretty serious about it. I got kind've frustrated and this coincided with my camera breaking so I stopped. Around 2004 or so I began to feel the urge again and was intrigued by digital. I bought a P&S and then a Nikon DSLR and have continued to the present. So, around 11 or 12 years or so total.

Timeline goes like this-->
1995-2000: was b&w film
2004-2007: was digital
2008-2010: was film
2010-present: both film and digital

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Originally Posted by Neare

How long, as of 20/02/11, have you been practicing photography for?
And by practicing I mean starting with the point of investing serious personal funds and/or time into photography. ("My parents gave me a 110 camera when I was 6" doesn't count )


I am currently at 1 year, 4 months.

My dad taught me to use his manual 35mm SLR when I was 8 and gave me one of my own when I was 11. Does that count? I got a Rolleiflex at 15, Began shooting professionally at 16 (wedddings, which I did till after college to earn extra $$), and was in my first exhibit at 19.

[dogberryjr]

Always interested—I got a 110 for Christmas when I was 10 or so. I bought my first 35mm (a Canon T70) at age 19 thinking I could recreate all the photos I saw in the brochures (I didn't). I got away from photography for a long time before coming back to it a few years ago. Hope I am improving, because it is sure taking up a lot of time, energy and thought.

[Haigh]

Around 50 + years. I was introduced to it as part of my work in optics as a young man and there was a darkroom there. I had some very kind mentors who would check my personal work for me and give me tips. Many things have happened to me in my long life but I am more grateful than ever I still have this strong thread running through it. I am grateful for my long life as now I have the community of RFF to be a part of.

[Chris101]

Originally Posted by Neare

... I mean starting with the point of investing serious personal funds and/or time into photography. ("My parents gave me a 110 camera when I was 6" doesn't count )

...

But my parents DID give me my first camera - that actually belonged to ME. I had used my father's, grandfather's and sister's cameras prior to that. So I did not invest big bucks into it, but I did take it with me everywhere.

Here are the oldest photos i can find, dated nearly 43 years ago:

http://homepage.mac.com/cheilman1/desemboque/

[Soothsayerman]

My mom gave me an SX-70 when I was 10. I took my first photography class in highschool at 14 and learned darkroom technique with my first serious camera a yashica TLR. When I was 16 I received an OM-1 for my birthday and an enlarger. Good times.

[Juan Valdenebro]

Although I had used my father's and uncles' Nikon and Canon SLRs before, I was given (my birthday, an uncle) my first Nikon by 12. Another (the youngest one) uncle invited me into his darkroom since I was a child: one day he told me "If you want, I can take a picture of you and print a photograph of you flying over the city like Superman", and he did it! He was in his twenties, and I got hooked when I was 5 years old... I remember how intense was the fixer smell to me back then... I learned to develop and print B&W and was the photographer for my high school newspaper by 13. But even shooting constantly for years after that, I never thought of "being a photographer" ever in my future, I mean professionally. When I was 22 (after passing over that uncontrollable thing called being a teenager) I started to care about latest cameras and lenses and decided to spend my (big then) money in a Nikon AF camera and a few lenses, and enjoyed (and learned a lot with) Ansel Adams' three books, and by 25 decided to curse the career in photography. My first career was music (composition). I used 35mm SLRs, MF and LF and worked professionally with them from the last year of my studies, on. I set my own small studio (and also worked for for a huge one) by 30. Then after some years I got tired of digital, and soon got bored with product and fashion shooting. I started to enjoy and prefer manual cameras (classic SLRs) a lot in my early 30's, and started to use rangefinders and do street shooting two years ago. I'd say the best part of my journey started 16 years ago, and Adams' books were the start...

Cheers,

Juan

[Michael Markey]

First I can recall was `62 using my dads folder.
Still have a couple of prints and one neg ....Belgium on a school trip.
Then early `70`s using K25/64/200 and a Zenith SLR and dads folder.
Later I got a Chinon.
In the `80s it was mainly a Canon Shureshot.
In the`90`s... video and about three or four years ago rangefinders.