How Did I Start?

So let's start at the beginning - how did I get interested in photography? I think for some, it begins with one picture. I realized this when I checked out Jim Janaard's photo website. In case you don't know who he is, he is the founder of Oakley - a company that makes high-end sunglasses and other apparel, and he is currently working on the RED Digital Cinema Camera Company.

If you look at the History portion of his website, he shows you the first picture he took that made him want to do photography (it's a nice one). I hope to post my first picture that gave me hope - first I have to find it, then I have to scan it! But I'll try to explain it to you.

I was 18 years old and at Sea World with my parents. My dad had a decent SLR (that's single lense reflex - a camera that is larger in size than instant cameras and usually has interchangable lenses) and let me borrow it when I went to the top of what was known then as the PSA Skytower. It's this ride that holds a ton of people and slowly rotates as it rises up and gives you a great view of the area. At the top of the ride, I shot a picture of a pier off in the distance that had what looked like a rollercoaster on it. I didn't think much of it until I had the film developed, and although I was using color film, the image actually turned out looking black and white because of the tinting on the windows of the Skytower, and because it was overcast that day. The silohuette of the rollercoaster could be seen, as well as patches of sunlight that was coming through the clouds. I had the image blown up and hung it in my room. The blown-up image is long gone, but I still remember the shot, and remember it made me think I might have a decent eye for photography. Up until then, I felt like all the other pictures I'd taken while growing up were just snapshots. THAT was a photograph.

So I started reading books on the subject, from the very simple to the more complex. Books on basic camera operation, books on composition and technique, and later, as digital became more popular, books on Photoshop. I went all out to learn as much as I possibly could. I learned about aperture and shutter speed and how the two work together. I learned about ISO settings and which ones work best for what kinds of photos. I learned that slide film is better quality than regular film, so I shot with that even though it was more expensive to develop.

After a while I felt like I needed some feedback on what I was doing, so I decided to look for classes. Fortunately, the classes found me in a way, when I was shooting pictures at the San Juan Capistrano Mission, and met Robert Hansen, who was teaching some students there. They say, "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear..." and sure enough he did.

So for a while I took classes from him on different aspects of photography. I even worked as a photo assistant for him a couple of times. All these were great experiences, and he gave me a lot of encouragement and the belief that I might be able to do something with my photography.

So that's how I started out - with a passion for knowledge. The next step was to try to make a business out of it.