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PHOTOGRAPHIC AGE PAGE 2 (BELOW IS A LINK TO PAGE ONE OF THIS SECTION)
Hello My story may sound sad to some but it isn't for me because I wouldn't be who I am now. I appreciate everything around me so much. Anyway, with my story. I come from a very por, and large family in the Ozarks of Arkansas. No one could afford camera's or film, etc., when I was young. It wasn't a priority. Anyway, there are no pictures of me or my brothers and sisters, until I was about 14. Or many of the rest of my family. I purchased my first camers when I was 16, it was a 110 $8.00 camera. I took a lot of pictures with that thing. I was able to purchase my first slr camera about 5 1/2 years ago. My husband got it for me. WOW, that's all it took, the first roll of film I took with that Minolta was great. I still have three pictures from that first roll in my portfolio. I was hooked. In the past 5 years I've been traveling with my husband all over the US, and have taken pictures everywhere. I started a web design business 5 years algo. People would pay me to take pictures of there products, real estate, art, etc. to place on web sites. And it lead to doing pictures fo families. And I've used the money to purchase all of my studio equipment, and other accessories for my camera, including supplies to paint my own backgrounds (still learning). I will be purchasing my first medium format camera in two weeks. Me and my husband work very hard, and have been very fortunate. And I try to do for the people that inspired me and that is the people in my family, and the people in my area. When I'm at home in Arkansas I do a lot of free work because there are a lot of por people that can't afford pictures. I usually Have a town party at Halloween, and Christmas, and I build a festive setting and take pictures of the people and their children. Some people pitch in to help with the cost that I am out, but most of all it is a great feeling to know that those children can come to me in 10 or 15 years and I can give them pictures of their childhood. I know that all of the families greatly appreciate my work. I purchase clothes, and make clothes so when I take pictures of the children they have cute things to wear. With these families I do my very best. This is why photography is my passion. CDP
First paying customer was when i opened a one hour photo store in a small town. Suddenly i became the guy who knew it all. ( only I didn't and still don't) So that was back in 1983 that makes me 19 years old. Phew just about out of those rebelious teen years and ready to settle down. photographerphil
Well, let's see, I became intriqued with it when our photographer was doing our wedding, bought my Minolta manual a few months later. Had my first paid wedding in 1998. Guess that would make me an infant of 4 years old.  I like the idea of being able to see things through the lens that most people can't grasp. It started as a hobby and now I'm trying to make it into a career. Since the fact that I've only done 2 paid weddings. I'm always learning, though, and I feel that all of you are my mentors and I thank you for that. Shawna
For me it was my Jr. year in high school. I was a staff photographer for the jounalism dept., I was covering an Elvis impersonator that was performing at the school. I was using an old Yamaha box camera...(wow that seems so long ago, forgot the model even...lol), while taking the pictures I was approached by a member of his crew, saying he wanted to talk to me after the show. He wanted to see the pictures I'd taken, and told me the hotel he was staying at, as well as performing in the hotel lounge. I consulted my journalism teacher, this is when I learned that I owned the copyrights to the pictures I'd taken. And he didn't care if I sold them, a good learning experience. I developed the film, I'd shot b&w, printed the shots I liked the best, about 20 in all. I had my mother drive me to the hotel and go in with me. We sat at his table till his break, he looked through the pictures, said he really liked a few different ones, but wanted to buy them all. He bought all 20 pics for $75.....I was hooked. He used one of my pictures for a poster, and another on the back of an LP album cover. When he returned the following year, he called me and told me he wanted color slides and would pay the extra cost for developing. He bought several prints from the slides for about the same amount. One he even accused me of sneaking a slide of the real Elvis into the lot to trick him...but it was him. He used that on his next album. So, that makes me, 26 years old in Photog years. Tom
My first camera was a Kodak Instamatic (126, cool) then I graduated to a Kodak Disc (less cool) then my father bought a Maxum 7000 (w/ two zoom lenses (super cool) then I went to college to learn how to stop making run-on sentences. Actually, I go a degree at Arizona State, BFA in "Fine Art". Swanky... Between the weddings and the barmitzvahs (it took me forver to spell that word right!) I worked odd jobs making money and pictures. Uh, well, I think there were a few girlfrinds in between... Anyhow, I ended up in Santa Fe, NM working at a lab. I started a photo card biz which was neat.  I also met my wife there- she was my manager... Fox TV, in Albuquerque, had a contest for a calendar which my photo was selected (Toot toot). I got December AND THE COVER!!! (TOOT). The real irony was that I got $200 in free photo processing. My boss gave me that... To make a long boring story short: now I just do it for fun.  Jellyfishman
Hello, I started photography at the age of 12yrs old as a hobby,placed in a few contests but nothing professional status.Then my health caused me to have to find a new way to pay the billls,my first money was earned by submitting images to magazines all over the united states.Finally one of my images was used in pennsylvania magazine,so thats how I made my first buck in photography.That was only 2 years ago,I am still submitting images today.I guess you could say I am still a baby in the magazine field,but the more you shoot the better you get to understanding what is in demand in the magazine field of photography. snappy
I was finally born on Sunday 15, 2002 at 4pm. Allot of pounds and a few unknown ounces, not to mention some 66 inches. lol..  I had my first paying shoot. it was not without it's misshaps. but I had allot of fun. Kittn
Congratulations on your "birth", Kittn  Here's to many more for a gifted "baby."  As for me - let's see I applied for and received my first state resale tax permit in 1987. (I actually sold a few photos before then, but with business picking up figured I'd better make it legal!) So I guess that makes me 15+ in Photographic Age. (Geeeeeee, nice to be a teenager again!!) Seems I've always had a camera in my hands (so many Christmases, Birthdays, Vacations viewed through a view finder, I was soooooooo glad when my children got old enough to take their own holiday photos so I could sit back and enjoy in full screen!!) Shot with a Brownie Hawkeye (I think that's what they called them) for my first camera. Went through about a dozen various what they now call point-and-shoot cameras (and instant Polaroid and Kodak type) before I discovered 35 MM SLR!! and have been hooked ever since. My first SLR was a Practika (sp?) then I actually moved up (?) to a Mamiya 35 mm SLR. (Auto nothing, but fun nevertheless.) I've always said, I'll continue with photography as long as it remains "FUN." The minute a photographic assignment becomes that four-letter word (WORK), I'm laying down my camera. Shutter Fly 
To tell you the truth, I don't remember when I sold my first picture. I am probably the youngest of the crew at 22. I have been freelance writing for the newspaper here in Florida, (since I was 16) and occasionally have done photos while on assignment. I am in college as a Communications major. For an elective I took photography, which really jumpstarted my photography interest. I also took advanced photography, and when I transferred to a University I decided to get a darkroom, since I wasn't using the one at the college anymore. About a year ago I started realizing that when I got my film back all of them were becoming really good. No fuzzy pictures, no soft focus. Me being the type of person that I get something when I want it, decided to try and sell some pictures. The Jacksonville Visitors Guide used a photo earlier this year in their catalog. Didn't pay for it, but it was kind of neat. Last year I started taking photos of police at work, in my spare time. Within 2-3 months I sold my first photo, and it was used on the cover of a Police magazine. I was psyched, it didn't pay much, cause that magazine was not for profit. Than in December, another police magazine who I had contributed a couple of photos too asked me to do their cover photo. The pay was much better, and I had alot of fun. So I guess thats the basics on me! Christy
My foray into photography began just back in May of this year (2002). Well actually about a month earlier when my mom got her first digital (basically just to keep up with the times and save on developing). I picked it up and from then on, I was hooked. I guess I have always had an underlying interest in photography but I think it was stifled by the fact that all I had was a 35mm point&shoot (wide-angle making the photos very busy) coupled with the fact that I didn't have much money and the price of developing is a bit expensive. The instant results of the digital really drew me in. I honestly think that if I had not picked up a digital I would probably have missed my calling, or at least, a hobby. Shortly thereafter, in May, I bought my own digital, a Casio-8000SX, its pretty low end compared to a digital SLR (which I very much want) but will have to do until I can afford a better one. In June I bought a Canon T-50 (I know, I know, its fully automatic but I was ignorant then and have learned much since then) to help shoot my sisters wedding (there was a photographer, I was just shooting for practice and the event, plus I was in it, A real bummer considering I would have loved to been able to shoot more, but I guess I should consider it a privilege) but pretty much of them turned out blurry or shaky with only a few actually good ones. Since then I've just been shooting what I find and practicing. So my photographic age is very much infant. If even that, I’ve never sold a photo. So would that make me not even born yet?? I'm not sure what the future will hold, whether pro or amateur, but I think at the least a serious amateur. Brainboy
After reading about how these members got their start, add your story by clicking this link and make a post,then I will transfer it. http://groups.msn.com/ProfessionalPhotoTalk/general.msnw?action=get_message&ID_Message=52&ShowDelete=0&ID_CLast=453&CDir=1 (BELOW IS A LINK TO PAGE THREE OF THIS SECTION)
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