How I got into Photography

I was pretty uninterested with photography ever since I was a child -- no, it doesn't mean that I don't use a camera, it's just that a quick snapshot of what's happening would be fine for me. Back then, I'm concerned about the model of the camera not because I could take better pictures, but because my friends got one. The only camera I bought while I was single was an Olympus Centurion, an APS-film SLR fixed-lens camera that I got during my business trip to Japan (it's still working until now, it's with my parents).

Everything changed when I got married and we were expecting our first child. When I learned that we can give a camera to the hospital personnel in the delivery room to take pictures while my wife is delivering our baby, I knew I had to get a camera. I saved our baby's ultrasound printout (and got the whole process on videotape) with the thought that one day when my baby grows up, he will know what his parents went through just to bring him to the world.

While I was nonchalant in taking pictures then, by the time my baby went out of my wife's womb, I wanted the pictures to come out beautiful. Not only should they capture my child as he grows, but they should also come out in a way that they would be kept because of their quality -- not just because it is a picture of someone important.

What I got at first was a Canon Prima, a 35mm point-and shoot camera. It's enough to do the job, but we had to print out the film just to see the pictures. From that camera I learned that zooming to a subject and choosing a background that's very far would make the subject pop out from the background.

We got tired of using the camera to take shots and having a photo shop print them, so we got a Kodak CX5730, a digital point-and-shoot. Through that camera we learned the joys and conveniences of going digital. Ever since we had the shots stored on optical and magnetic media, and only printed the really good ones. We had lots of pictures taken during the span of time that we had this camera.

Having gone to several photography sites, read lots of magazine articles, and seeing some friends' shots, we decided that it is time to move to a DSLR camera. It is quite expensive, but we know that the investment would be worth it in the long run. We got a Canon EOS 450D along with the 18-55 IS kit lens, and a 50mm f/1.8 prime lens after a few months. Since then I've been more into photography as a hobby, and I could say that comparing my pictures then to what I have now, the quality is very much better. The DSLR camera gave me a lot of options on how I could compose my shot and what effect I'd want my shot to have.

Presently, I have accounts at Flickr and other online photo sharing sites. I have a lot of pictures taken of my son. Now that a new baby has arrived (just a few days ago), even our new baby (girl) can expect great-looking pictures to look at when she grows up.

I guess getting into photography for me is drawn out of inspiration. Now that I have a subject (my family), I have something to put my sights into. It's that simple.