Years in Photography, c. 50yrs
My father often took photographs of the family as I was growing up and I had my first camera, a Kodak 44A, in my early teens. The camera used 127 size roll films and produced 12 x 44mm square negatives per film. My interests developed and I progressed to 35mm and then, around 1964 to an early SLR, a Yashica Penta J.
Age: 40+
Years into photography: 10+
I have always taken photos as far back as I can recall, but always with point and shoot film cameras (of the 110 and 35mm variety). I didn’t really take photography seriously until I bought a decent point and shoot digital camera which had manual controls.
Age 45+
Years into photography 6+
I dabbled with photography as a child with a Kodak brownie camera, nothing serious just some snaps but later with the advent of digital I got into photography seriously with a Sony compact camera but wasn’t getting the results I wanted.
As a kid I loved taking photos when on holiday with a Kodak film camera. When at college I got a Zenith E 35mm camera and started using the college darkroom to develop black and white. At that time the meadows area was being redeveloped and I tried to record some of the old buildings and the people around them before they disappeared. I also did a series of black and white shots of the RC Cathedral (fondly known as ‘Paddy’s Wigwam’) in my home town of Liverpool. I lost all of these prints and negs later on when we were flooded.
Like so many people, I left photography when I got married but took it up again in the 1980′s when we had kids and I bought a new 35mm camera. When digital cameras came along I got a Canon compact and soon after a Canon 350D SLR. I found I was far more successful with digital cameras and I enjoy messing around with Photoshop. I joined the Outlaws Photography Society a few years ago and this helped my photography to take off. I have upgraded to a Canon 7D and a bag full of lenses and other stuff, the main purpose of which seems to be to make the camera bag even heavier (back to those creaking knees again!).
I mostly do landscape work and have been encouraged by a few successes in club competitions. I have recently been attempting some arty processing such as my “Victorian Prospect”. I also enjoy challenging my photography by entering competitions with themes that I would not otherwise tackle. Without the challenge of club competition I would not have spent time filling party balloons with water, freezing them and creating pictures of “Ice Planets”. Portraits are always a challenge but I have learnt something from watching others in the club. The moral of this tale is come and join us, enjoy the company and let your photography grow!
John’s gallery:
Hi
Well I’ve enjoyed photography for as long as I can remember, I have to thank my late uncle Ken, who used me as a model and then introduced me to the magical world of black and white developing. I carried on my love for post processing at Uni, they had a really professional lab that us students could use, using my first proper camera a canon T50. I only dabbled with photography for a number of years until the dawn of the digital age, in the early days it was very disappointing the image quality was rubbish, as some of my old 2 megabyte images show all too clearly.
Hi,
Being as though I suggested this feature I felt it only appropriate that I should kick it off.
I have been into photography all my adult life, my passion really grew when my wife (to be) bought me a Prakitica L2 with a 50mm Pentacon lens for an engagement present when I was 19 (yes, it was a long time ago).