Amy writes beautifully about her photography journey, and asks us to say something about our own journey with The Camera. Personally, I started out some 50 years ago with a Kodak Instamatic. 24 photos possible, and expensive they were. I wasn’t hooked… being a school girl with no income of my own. I stayed with my binoculars and forest birds. But I kept dreaming of maybe some day…
When I met my husband to be, who was a keen photographer, he had a Canon, a ”real” camera with several lenses. And he made diapositives. When we started traveling more extensively, I thought it would be too expensive with double up of everything. So, I gave up photographing – something I have regretted many times…I have no photos from countries like Egypt, Nepal, Peru…
The other obvious targets were my two dogs, Mille and Totti. Mille was my first Lagotto. They all have their own special pages on my blog. My newest little one as well, Milo.
With the children came my first ”real” flirt with a camera. My husband bought a film camera, and I ended up with a Nikon D40. Second hand, but it worked well. (The whole New Zealand (LAPC #53) tour was photographed with the D40, and so were almost all of my students.) After some years, I upgraded to a D7000.
Today I also have a Fuji camera – much less weight to carry… My faithful Nikon is mostly left on the tripod for macros. I dearly loved the little Canon IXUS – slim pocket size and splendid sharpness. (Forwarded to my daughter now…) It was a ”dogwalk camera” – steady enough to work with one hand only. A phone must be handled with both hands – at least if you have two dogs. But remember – The best camera is the one you have with you.
The only course I have managed to squeeze in so far is ”Find your photographic voice” for Otto von Münchow. An online course where I learned more about both camera settings and how to ”think” and find my own style. I am not much into the tech part, so this theme was perfect for me. I would love to attend more courses, but with old parents, two dogs – and a grown man to ”take care of”… this is not easily managed.
When I try to sum up what has meant the most for my journey, I find it must be CHECKING OUT PHOTOS made by photographers all over the world. Learning from Your photos, experts’ photos, (Lens-) artists’ photos. I visit galleries, I use good books, I roam the Internet. And I love Lightroom and Photoshop to play around with. Lastly, I must not forget my husband, who patiently has been driving the car, walking the dogs, holding my things…
I am a bit envious of some of you, because I know you have friends to go out shooting with. I believe that must be wonderfully enriching – as feedback moves you forward and stretches your abilities. Otto and my son have been important in helping me do that. My son, David, is a very good photographer and graphic designer. Some of you know he has been a guest here two Thursdays with Chernobyl and Exploring the Unknown.
Finally I want to send many grateful thanks to all of you who contributed with such tremendous variety to Striped and Checked last week! – I never thought there could be so many different possibilities! So, this week we hope you will join us again, and we look forward to seeing your creative photos and reading about Your Photography Journey. Please link to Amy’s original post and don’t forget the Lens-Artists tag.
Next week Tina will present us with “Before and After” We’ll be asking you to share images that didn’t quite live up to your expectations together with your final versions after editing them. Until then – stay safe and be well. Stay close to Nature if you can, and communicate with mockingbirds – just like I do…because if something is promoting a photographic journey, it is love of what you are doing, and in my case – Love of Mother Nature.
Leya 
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Wonderful, all. 🙂 Especially you, all checked, in the end.
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I enjoyed your journey, Leya. I do remember those expensive days. As poor as so many of my shots are, I am so glad for digital photos. My biggest problem and probably one of my next posts will be about organization and storage. I’ve been talking to Lisa Coleman about a guest post, but I am interested in how different photographers organize their photos so that they can find them for challenges and such.
Ah – that will be interesting. I am afraid I am a poor organizer – always could find what I wanted anyway…not anymore!
I work hard at organizing, but it is overwhelming.
….oh, I know I should too, but…I’ll have to read your advice on it!
I think it will have to come from others!!
Oh yes, the best camera is the one you have with you! Wonderful story .. 🙂 thank you for sharing your journey!
Thank you for reading, Julie!
A wonderful journey, Ann-Christine! And the images that you used to illustrate the theme are all splendid.
Thank you so much, Sue.
I really enjoyed reading your start and journey with photograph, Ann-Christine. It sounded like you had a lot of patience with it, waiting until the moment was right to get your first camera and then upgrading along the way, and learning as you did from so many people and places. Those are lovely shots of you in action with your camera. The bird seemed to look very interested in you in the last shot 😀
I remember my very first camera was a film camera. I got it free from a donation drive in primary school. Film was expensive back then and that camera operated on batteries – which made the photo-taking experience all the more pricey. My first digital camera was a Canon IXUS and it served me well for many years. I think I still have it somewhere. These days my go-to camera is one of Canon’s higher end point-and-shoots, so easy to carry out and works well for me. May you continuing taking photos and enjoy photography 😊
Interesting to hear, Mabel. Some of you first had a film camera! That would never have happened here I think. Film cameras were even more expensive than ordinary cameras. Glad you had en IXUS too!
I wish I had kept my film camera. It was a no-brand film camera and very unique. Take care, Leya. Stay safe and see you around 🙂
See you, Mabel – always happy to hear from you!
I am glad your family encouraged you and carried your gear, Ann-Christine. Is that photo of your trip to NZ?
No…I just linked to some of the NZ photos.
I must have missed that bit. I’ll read again. 😊
🙂
Those old Kodak Instamatic!!! I’m sorry I didn’t keep it. I liked your photographic history. 😘
Me too…so sorry I did not keep mine – in fact I don’t remember where it went. I seldom through things away – I might have given it away though.
Ann-Christine, it was great to read about your journey, and, like you, I enjoy using at present a Fujifilm more than a Canon full-frame. Funny how all that has come to fruition!
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It has been really interesting to read about your photographic journey
Thank you – sorry I did not post older photos – but they are all plastered in albums and rather yellowed.
Great journey, great photos. Love that old motorcycle, and bird at beach!
Thanks, John! Those bikers were really nice old guys to talk to as well. About 25 of them there!
I so enjoyed reading about your journey with your different cameras, Ann Christine. Your photos are exquisite. Like Restless Jo, I’m not into the technical side of photography and like Frank, am more of a point and shoot person. I really appreciate those who do a really professional job though. 👏🏻
Sylvia – thank you for your kind words! I must say I loved my little point and shoot, because I could bring it in my pocket and walk my dogs – and take photos simultaneously! I perfectly understand those who use their cell phones instead, but I am not that comfortable with that…for me they take two hands and I cannot walk the dogs…
I’ve just been going through some of my pre-digital images. I can’t believe how bad they were! Who’s have thought that the ability to take hundreds of photos without worrying about cost would have made us so much better? I note you don’t show us anything from those days 😉 Though I bet they were better than mine. A fascinating account. Thank you.
Ha! Margaret – all my oldies are plastered into albums, and the negatives are for sure lost. Photographing in the albums…I was too lazy for that. And I don’t think you will find them any better than others… I remember they are yellowed too.
And – photographing more and more – is of course making us better!
Such lovely photos as usual, Ann-Christine using your ”real” camera.
Well – that was my first reaction to my husbandtobe’s camera…
It was so nice to read more about your photographic journey. I too started taking photography seriously with the advent of digital. I so loved viewing all your photos as always. Hope all is well with you. I think of your often. 😀
Thank you, Cee – I often think of you as well. Hope you are doing all right and the girls too. We have a snowy winter this year – the whole family enjoys it immensely. Milo is a tornado every day…
Love that final black and white image!
It is truly interesting to read some of the back history of the photographers who are submitting for this challenge.
Glad you enjoy it too, John – I find it so interesting and I have had some eye openers as well. Glad you liked my snowy trees.
It is lovely to read everyone’s photographic journeys. So many different paths.
Isn’t it? I love reading about them too. An interesting challenge that opens my eyes to many other stories!
I’m so glad your photography journey brought you to the Lens-Artists challenges so that so many have been able to discover your wonderful images.
Beth – thank you for your kind words, you really made my day. ♥
I completely agree the best camera is the one you have with you.
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I love that first Photo. It´s like a painting..a bit rustic and surreal.I am a big fan of your Gallery Leya. Your photos are honest and brutally gorgeous. Your post made me thought and remember my Photograpy journal as well.I am not a pro, I only learned using my Camera by myself.Would love to experiment more but the editing part leaves me breathless.
What app do you use to reduce the size of the photos you use for your Blog?
Sending you warm greetings from cold Bavaria here in Germany.
Thank you – and thank you for commenting on my photos. Glad you enjoy them too! Do you have Lightroom? That is where I do my editing and size my photos for the blog. Many people use Photoshop too, but I know there are free programs like Gimp – or Picasa. Good luck!
Just have to write you again after seeing your blog – amazingly beautiful art! ♥ Following on insta.
Thank you Leya…appreciate your warm words!
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Enjoyed ready about your photographic journey. Your photos are so beautiful and inspiring. I have just been excited about photography since I began blogging over 5 years ago. I am just enjoying doing my own thing and am often surprised when a photo turns out well.
Popped over to yours – and thought – well, then you must be surprised often! Beautiful sunsets and nature. Thank you for commenting.
Beautiful journey 🙂
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Great post, A C, and I don’t think I ever realised you had done the same course with Otto as I did! Or am I forgetting that? The other thing I don’t recall seeing is David’s Chernobyl images…stunning. I wonder if I was away at the time, because I would certainly have asked him questions Your images are great and as I said the other day,I’m so pleased you’ve picked up the camera again
I am pleased I did take it up again, Sue. I did know you took a course for Otto, but I was not aware it was the same one! Chernobyl, yes, amazing isn’t it. He really loved that and went there for two days… Sue, I really must ask him…
Yes, and I looked back, and as well as the book, there are images of the room with all the machinery!
Yes – it helps if you pin down exactly what you want. i know the book.
ah so nice to see you in action
and i like how you noted your learning continues and how you learn from us and all sources
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cheers to continuing to grow in our own voice and style
Cheers! May learning never stop!
Very interesting to read how your photography has been evolved during the years and to know about the cameras you used.
Thank you – glad you liked it. It was fun remembering…and realising how much I miss the easy clicking away with the IXUS…
This is such a wonderful theme and your response to it is beautiful and interesting. Thanks for sharing your journey.
Glad you enjoyed it, Sue. I had some difficulties with it at first. What to write? But I have so enjoyed all the different stories!
I was caught right from that first shot of the summer palace in Beijing to that wonderful last photo. Superb retelling of a journey.
I liked your son’s photos of abandoned places; that’s an interest which resonated with me. Thank you for those links, since I’d missed them.
Happy you liked this! And you knew it was the summer palace too – of course. I so remember the frustrating feeling with that camera and all those beautiful sights. I remember running around for new batteries all the time…and being afraid not to have enough and missing out.
Happy you enjoyed my son’s photos as well – I have been fortunate to go with him searching abandoned places a couple of times. Great fun, but also a bit dangerous with old houses.
The last photo – so glad you mentioned it…has a special place in my heart. As has the whole journey to the Galápagos Islands.
A wonderful photography journey you have had, Ann-Christine. Thank you for sharing the story and the photos.
Glad you enjoyed them, Miriam!
Thank you for your share, AC!
You are welcome.
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Oh, I can’t imagine going on a vacation without a camera 😲 but hopefully you have great memories! I enjoyed reading your story above. You share wonderful photographs!
Thank you, Lisa – I know the feeling…but when I was young and still studying, there wasn’t much money but much adventure! We have slides (my husband’sfrom all those places, but they lie in their boxes… Glad you enjoy my photos.
It is interesting to see how you ”developed” your Photography skills. We started out with digital cameras on our travels and I didn’t like all the fiddling with them and having to carry so much stuff! We went to IPHONES and kept improving our photo techniques. It is so much easier for us and I think our photos are much better! Like you say the best camera for you is the one you carry! Mine is with me all the time!
Exactly. It should be easy and not heavy! Good you use your phones – I guess I am a bit late or a bit clumsy with those. And it does not work for me so well as I often have at least one dog with me. I often think of going back to that little IXUS I could handle with one hand and slip into my pocket…
We realized, at one point, we were taking almost another bag full of camera gear on our vacations……lenses, tri-pods, batteries, battery chargers, etc and it became too much! So, one year we decided to just use our IPhones and we decided the photos were very good, if not better!
Good for you!
I like your first photo. It looks like a piece of artwork that could be framed and hung on a wall. The last picture was special too. Did the bird give you some good advice?
I am glad you liked the first photo – it is one of my personal favourites. The last one is a heartwarming memory. I loved the Mockingbirds, so curious, so pertinant – eating from our backpacks, but listening intently when I talked to them. And the feeling of Paradise throughout the whole journey. My childhood dream come true.
This was a wonderful post Ann Christine. What I find amazing about going out with a group, is how we all shoot the same thing, but come up with different images! That’s how I’ve learned. During our last outing, one photo buddy kept coming up to me asking what I was seeing as I was shooting. Your photography is beautiful.
Thank you so much, Anne. And that is the thing – we all see the world differently…we focus on diffeent things in the same frame. We even look at the frame differently. I love that. I would love to participate in a group!
Good to read the backstory to your wonderful photographs.
Thank you, Fraggle – I must say I have immensely enjoyed the stories from how others have got to where they are today. I still miss my IXUS, just to slip into my pocket…
Everything has a history, so thanks not only for sharing your story, but I found it to be interesting – and I’m not a photographer other than the point and shot with my phone. Well done!
Thank you, Frank. I have so much enjoyed the stories this challenge brought – and now I got a piece of yours as well!
🙂
I’m slightly envious too, but lack the desire to get to grips with the technical side. I still have my little Canon Ixus but it hasn’t been performing so well lately and I now have a secondhand ‘backup’. It’s only had one outing and the images were fine, but I didn’t like the feeling of carrying a bag of sugar round my neck! There’s no hope for me, Ann Christine. I’ll have to continue to admire from afar 🙂 🙂
But your beautiful walks? Are those from the IXUS? Sometimes I just long for mine…so easy to slip in my pocket…
Yes, the Ixus, but it’s not so healthy these days and I have to sharpen in post process 😦
Do they still make these? Canon?
Yes, I think so 🤔💕
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Terrific Ann-Christine! I’ve been so enchanted by the journeys of our followers and of course of our team. You know of course that your opening image is one of my favorites ever, and this week your closing image is equally wonderful in a different way. Loved hearing about your journey and so fun that both your son and Patti’s are into graphic arts. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree as they say
Haha, well, thank you, Tina! I have so much enjoyed reading every story as well – different, but also similar. All interesting. I know both you and I like that first one – I am very grateful for that day at the artist’s factory. It brought insight and very special stories.
I smiled at Patti’s experiences with her son – they sound so like my son’s words to me. The apple doesn’t fall far from the pear tree… we say as a travesty.
And I loved those Mockingbirds – always curious and eating from our backpacks…The Galápagos adventure was the answer to my childhood dreams – a Paradise where animals and humans can met without fear.
I absolutely love this (and this challenge)
Yay!
A great read and am glad you recommenced taking photos Ann-Christine 🙂 Getting those 24 photos developed was soooo expensive and when they came back as duds was so disappointing to wait a week for that!!!
I totally agree…If two out of those 24 were acceptable, I had to be happy. It nearly killed my energy for photography.
Yes even a small percentage was good 🙂
…
I’m so glad you started photographing again. The image of your Norway tour is breathtaking. I always think many of your photos ought to be displayed in a gallery, but we are lucky to enjoy here. Thank you for sharing your journey, AC. I love the last capture, so cute. Were you having a conversatio, AC with this little guy? 🙂
Now you are so very kind, Amy, thank you. Glad you enjoy my work – as I enjoy yours! Your birds are always fantastic, and in my mind I can see those two white egrets(?) walzing in the air. Now that – should be in a gallery! You have lots of beautiful bird photos I am very envious of. I am absolutely no good at capturing birds or butterflies for example…
Thank you for mentione the egret image. It was a right timing and right place.
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Oh, and yes – we were having a silent conversation, the Mockingbird and I. The main reason for going to the Galápagos islands forme, was coming close to the animals. Ever since I was a child, these islands represented Paradise to me. And it was true, and came true.
It sound like a beautiful place to visit. It’s comforting to be close to nature. 🙂
Great work AC! And does David have a site of his own work? Love to see more
Thank you, Chris! I am afraid he has no page, no blog, no nothing. I have been telling him to…but I guess if your job is to create in IT, then you have no wish to create such things for yourself on your spare time…He does blow up some to frame on his wall though. Thank you for asking – I will tell him you liked them.
Well, being creative in IT is one thing, and building media all day may lead to not making one for yourself. I did enjoy his stories and photos. I am not into urban myself but Chernobyl was impressive.
True. But I like urban, but find it too much work to get there – unless my son takes me…
I would do the same if it was my son!!! I am curious abour urban, but you have to find and get to these places
True. So, having someone do it for you is great.
Love that last photo!
♥ A favourite journey for me – and a lovely companion on the beach!