Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I was just looking at a City Data thread I started in 2009 where I asked for some tips on bird photography. Took my first class (free for seniors) in Basic Photography in The Fall of 2007 and joined a camera club in December 2007. I had Panasonic Point and Shoot Ultrazooms and a Kodak point and shoot until 2011 when I got my first DSLR. Still keep one old Panasonic for flowers and butterflies. I'm still mostly photographing birds in 2021, twelve years later. Talked about using my car as a blind in that old thread. Still do that now only now it's due to physical limitations. Looked at some of those old photos today. Egads!
I wondered what your story is.
In what year did photography become a hobby for you? Are you still mostly photographing the same type of subjects you photographed when you first started to take photos? What were your early cameras? Do you travel for your photography hobby, now? Do you think you are much better now than those early years? How about the improvement in photo software to edit them? Are you good at processing/editing? Want to show us one of those old photos and one you took recently that shows us how far you've come?
Thank you for starting this thread. I like it as like you I have kind of a passion for photography too. I go way back to 1976 when I bought my first SLR camera. A young soldier in a foreign country with money in my pocket to afford a camera for the first time. My favorite subject is my wife. I learned a great deal about photography but yet there is so much to learn. Getting into DSLR has been fantastic because I now can record a lot of what I see quickly and efficiently. I am looking forward to hopefully some interesting stories.
I will say that one way I improved as a photographer is to better frame my shots. I recently took a trip to S Korea and during that trip in 2020 S Korea experienced one of the wettest monsoon seasons in recorded history. It rained almost daily for long stretches of the summer months lasting longer then ever before. During this soggy trip I happened to be visiting a Buddhist temple with my wife, who is Buddhist, I took a lot of interesting pictures. Here is one of my favorite shots from that day. It was very overcast and that adds to the appeal of the shot.
Oh I thought I should add this one. I did say my favorite subject to photograph is my wife. Well here is one in Da Nang Vietnam.
Took a class with Ken Rockwell and one of his peers in 2010, which upped my game about 50% in one long weekend. That's usually how it goes when one seeks professional training. This was more of a clinic, but if one paid attention and asked questions, there were learnings. Loved that, mostly due to the subject matter (Western US ruins).
I've slowly migrated to shooting Manual on my mirrorless. Went through a couple DSLRs w/o complaint. My Fuji X100T back in '14 upped my game, forcing me to really learn exposure, shutter speed, and white balance. The lens was a fixed 35mm equivalent but few can match Fujifilm's street game then or now. Which was the point.
I'm in the process of having my Sony a7R III converted to monochrome. To point of this thread: across not quite two decades of "real" cameras, my best and most intriguing shots have nearly always been desaturated. Some with various filters. Finally I'm moving to that which I love best. Didn't want to pay for a Leica M and their heinously expensive though impressive glass. We shall see how it goes; I'm upping my composition game anymore as monochrome is about lighting and texture vs. color gradations.
Thank you for starting this thread. I like it as like you I have kind of a passion for photography too. I go way back to 1976 when I bought my first SLR camera. A young soldier in a foreign country with money in my pocket to afford a camera for the first time. My favorite subject is my wife. I learned a great deal about photography but yet there is so much to learn. Getting into DSLR has been fantastic because I now can record a lot of what I see quickly and efficiently. I am looking forward to hopefully some interesting stories.
I will say that one way I improved as a photographer is to better frame my shots. I recently took a trip to S Korea and during that trip in 2020 S Korea experienced one of the wettest monsoon seasons in recorded history. It rained almost daily for long stretches of the summer months lasting longer then ever before. During this soggy trip I happened to be visiting a Buddhist temple with my wife, who is Buddhist, I took a lot of interesting pictures. Here is one of my favorite shots from that day. It was very overcast and that adds to the appeal of the shot.
Oh I thought I should add this one. I did say my favorite subject to photograph is my wife. Well here is one in Da Nang Vietnam.
What kind of camera do you take out during a monsoon?
Do you do much post-processing? I do a lot of re-composing in post-processing.
Your wife is very pretty. No wonder she's your favorite subject.
Took a class with Ken Rockwell and one of his peers in 2010, which upped my game about 50% in one long weekend. That's usually how it goes when one seeks professional training. This was more of a clinic, but if one paid attention and asked questions, there were learnings. Loved that, mostly due to the subject matter (Western US ruins).
I've slowly migrated to shooting Manual on my mirrorless. Went through a couple DSLRs w/o complaint. My Fuji X100T back in '14 upped my game, forcing me to really learn exposure, shutter speed, and white balance. The lens was a fixed 35mm equivalent but few can match Fujifilm's street game then or now. Which was the point.
I'm in the process of having my Sony a7R III converted to monochrome. To point of this thread: across not quite two decades of "real" cameras, my best and most intriguing shots have nearly always been desaturated. Some with various filters. Finally I'm moving to that which I love best. Didn't want to pay for a Leica M and their heinously expensive though impressive glass. We shall see how it goes; I'm upping my composition game anymore as monochrome is about lighting and texture vs. color gradations.
When I took my first photography class, I didn't know what questions to ask. Have friends who go on long road trips annually and no matter where they go, they try to attend some type of class with a pro that includes getting out in the field and taking photos.
Do you shoot any wildlife with the mirrorless camera?
What kind of camera do you take out during a monsoon?
Do you do much post-processing? I do a lot of re-composing in post-processing.
Your wife is very pretty. No wonder she's your favorite subject.
I do not but I have do some. I prefer to go take other pictures so re-composing or processing a picture is not something I have do but I do have Adobe Photoshop to make those changes.
I am currently using a Nikon D3400 DLSR and was doing my best to keep it from getting soaked that day. I did take a photography class and I also learned how to process film in the dark room and expose paper for black and white photography. The equipment for color photograph processes was not available as they were expensive.
Thank you for the compliment on the wife. She is very pretty and it didn't take long for me to see that she had everything I wanted in a wife. This is her in 1977 and so very young.
I have no idea how much I have improved or not as a photographer. Maybe I just adapt to new technologies and the ways of doing things as I get older? When looking at some of my old photos I wish that I would have taken more of them, as I am reminded of those memories. Photos I take today turn into memories by tomorrow. Are the oldest memories any better than the newest memories? Maybe this is the case for a lot of people, but to me all photographic memories and I enjoy as part of what I am.
When I took my first photography class, I didn't know what questions to ask. Have friends who go on long road trips annually and no matter where they go, they try to attend some type of class with a pro that includes getting out in the field and taking photos.
Do you shoot any wildlife with the mirrorless camera?
Wildlife, as Austin Powers said, is "Not my bag baby!" Nor is sports, though I've shots a couple Mariners and Seahawks games since c. 2004. I'm going full monochrome which is mostly about urban shots, possibly landscapes. I love dawn shots and odd lighting. Texture and dark/light only. Portraits too, cameos in the street. Urban decay is interesting, as is urban renewal.
Like this one from 2015, w/my Fujifilm X100T hands-down best portable street camera of it's day: typical subject for me. Alaskan Way Viaduct Tunnel construction which was completed in 2019.
While my wife and I use Nikon z6 cameras , our travel cameras when we fly are a pair of Fuji x100s ...great travel camera
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
