Those were a few of my attempts. I remember feeling very uninspired, and we had to finish the whole roll (of 16, I think) within a day or two. It wasn't until we moved to Arizona when I was 12 that I held a "real" camera - it was a Minolta X-370. The other day, my dad claimed we lost a lens and had to buy one in Colorado. I remember it as - we bought the whole camera in Colorado. If we'd had it before, Dad - why weren't we using it?
Do you remember the first photo you took when you thought "wow! that's amazing!"?
My sister and I argued over who took this beautiful portrait of our other sister, R. She was 3 years old, had little blonde pigtails, and was holding a purple wildflower. The bokeh (not that I knew that's what it was at the time) stunned me. I'd never seen such a thing before! Her face was in perfect focus. I'll have to find that one and scan it... I'm sure it's nothing special - but to us, it was inspiration to take more photographs with Dad's camera.
For me, it was when I bought an SLR for my husband (then boyfriend at the time) who wanted to take a photography class. I looked through the lens after he opened it and thought WOW!
ReplyDeleteI think I realized the power of photography early on when I started shooting (2001 roughly). Even in the beginning I'd take photos of various thing which would disappear not long after I made the photo. Local landmarks first. My hometowns old Feed Mill & Water Tower were first to go.
ReplyDeleteThe notion of recording things no one would ever see again really made me realize its power. Not that it is a decade later and some of the people in those photos have started dying, the power really has set in.