How it all started...
I remember my grandmother going on very exotic adventures while I was growing up. She would come back home filled with stories about the amazing places she had visited and the wonderful things she witnessed. Then, she would pull out the "Viewmaster" and roll out the discs for a great show and tell. I would be enthralled with her and those pictures. Right there, reflected on the dining room wall and while everyone else was going crazy (as all puertorricans do), I would sit in a corner and try to imagine what it would be like going to those places and experiencing what she did.
In reality, my uncle, who was in the army, would fly her out to wherever he was stationed at to help his wife when she was pregnant. Then, on his time off, he would drive her around the countryside. He was her favorite son and I can see why. He never forgot her and treated her like a queen. I loved that man... only met him a handful of times but after 25 or so years in the army, he was our hero. There was a picture of him jumping out of a plane that my grandmother kept hanging on the wall right by the door in her living room. I would stare at that picture for hours.
She had one of those 110 film cameras and took it everywhere. Those pictures were like treasures for me. I always bugged her to give me the camera. On my 6th grade graduation (I think) she gave me my own camera. The "DISC" camera. I was the man! I do not remember ever developing the film but took a lot of pictures with it. Someone stole it. I think my brother sold it to one of his buddies. He never admitted to it.
I went without a camera for a long time. While I was in college I got the bug again and bought a 35 mm Canon Rebel. I was the man again. Loved it. Brought it to the states with me but someone stole it here. That was it. I gave up. No more cameras for me. So for the next 20 years I did not take one picture. I just knew it wasn't for me. I couldn’t take care of a camera on my own. I was just not good at it.
Then a couple of years ago I was going to my Goddaughter's "quinceanera"... Thought I should buy one of those cheap digital cameras to bring something to show my friends when I got back. Got me a little all in one Kodak point and shoot... Took a few shots... came back and put them on my computer and realized I liked what I was looking at. Had them printed and loved them. Little by little started going to the zoo, the lake, got up before the sun came up and headed to the beach to take pictures of the sunrise. You should know I hate getting up early and get very antsy around people. Always have been. But the urge to take picture helped me get out. I just had to take pictures. My friends say it's an illness. After a few months with the little Kodak camera I splurged in a Canon DSLR. I discovered RAW and Photoshop. It all happened very quickly after that.
Online Dilema
I joined a couple of websites where people look at your pictures and tell you how to improve them. Then the contest sites followed. Those could be a lot of fun for a while. Have to be careful though. There is a lot of childish behavior on those sites. People create a lot of ghost accounts to vote for their own pictures and it can be very frustrating if you let them get to you. You will find anything from the 12 year old know it all, to the photography genius who can help you a lot. The trick is to read everything like it came from the 12 year old, and if you actually learn from it, great. If it’s just another "I don’t like blue" type of comment, you won't be disappointed since you thought it came from a 12 year old anyways.
I have learned a lot from those sites. Most of them have great tutorials or links to great information and techniques. You will discover how little you really know and how much more is there to learn. For the most part, you can join them for free and enjoy limited access. I did pay for a couple of them because I found them to be the most helpful to me. Most people are really very helpful and nice. Every once in a while you will find the occasional "egomaniac" who will just have to tell you how his equipment is much better than yours, he has been to a lot of exotic places and has pictures published in books and magazines all the time, so you obviously must bow in his presence and do as your are told or else. Since I am a bit of a twisted bastard, I tend to enjoy dealing with people like that. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but I get a huge chuckle reading their messages.
Daily Awards
DPChallenge
Fotofanatic
Fellow Freaks
The next step for me was to find likeminded people to go shooting pictures with. Once you go from the occasional "camera Nazi" to the obsessed picture taking freak you will become, your friends will no longer want to go out anymore. Somehow a lot of other more important things come up for them. Your family will be very annoyed with you and will hide when they see you coming with the camera. Your dog will run away from you every time you reach for a lens. I realized that spending an hour chasing a bug around your yard is not as much fun for someone who just wants to kill it. But there are support groups for this illness. Lots of other freaks that get up at 5:00 am to head to the beach because they heard on the news there might be some cloud coverage and it will be clear of haze. You set up your tripod and sip on your diet coke (hate coffee), and before you know it, there are 10 other freaks out there doing the same thing.
Camera clubs in your area will supply you with a nice group of people that will share their knowledge. Being new at this hobby, makes for a great learning experience. It will get you moving and away from the couch. You will still spend plenty of hours in front of your computer working on the pictures and "developing your film". For a control freak this is perfect. You can control everything from your subject to how deep you want the colors to be. You can select the paper you want the picture printed on. You can even select the type of ink. Its freaking awesome.
A good place to find other freaks like you is Meetup.
Studio
Every once in a while there will be rain, cold, snow, or just bad light outside and you will be sitting at your desk "jonesing" to click on that shutter button. I found that if you set up a table next to a window and get yourself a couple of those cheap spotlights from your hardware store, you can come up with a couple of nice shots to quench your habit. Go through every closet, attic, kitchen cabinet, china hutch and dresser drawer in your house and you will find all kinds of cool stuff you can take pictures of. I find grocery day particularly prolific for me; although I am not allowed to go shopping anymore because I come home with very pretty produce that does not taste good but looks freaking amazing in pictures. Going to the second hand stores is also a nice experience. You will now look at used objects as having great picture possibilities. The books on that picture to the left were sitting on a shelf at one of those stores and instead of thinking "Antiques Road show" when I saw them, I went straight to "Great texture and color". I know... it’s sad...
You will find yourself cutting flowers from your garden, bringing dead leaves inside, trying to capture every poor frog around your house, trying to make your guinea pig sit still for a couple of minutes (it’s very hard), or simply chasing the dog around and trying to bribe him into sitting still by the window so you can get a sharp picture of him. Don't let your family interfere with it. Always promise not to let the frog die, have plenty of dog treats for the pup, remember to take the dead leaves back outside and put that cut flower in a vase with a bit of water and leave it somewhere nice. Things will go much smoother if you follow those rules.
The next thing you will be reduced to, is turning the camera onto yourself. Something that will unleash every secret desire to make yourself look like a freak, monster, younger, wrinkle free, or simply change your eye color. I enjoy sitting in front of the computer cleaning up every imperfection and wrinkle on my face and pretending that time never left a mark.
Animals
Taking animal pictures can be very rewarding and exciting if done safely. Getting really close to a ticked off albino rattler can get your heart pumping. There are a lot of things you have to do to prepare physically and emotionally in order to get a good shot and survive. Luckily I didn’t have to do much. I went to the zoo with my tripod and stared this beast in the eye. Told him how ugly he was and how I was going to eat his babies for lunch. I even did a little dance in front of him trying to get him to open his mouth and show me his fangs. No luck. He was not in the mood. Keep in mind there was a 2 inch thick sheet of Plexiglas in between us. <G>
The zoo can be a great place to practice your picture taking. I buy the annual pass and get to go whenever the mood strikes me. Finding a zoo that does not have many bars in between you and the animals is always best. In Florida almost every zoo has open enclosures. The zoo in Sanford, FL. has a great serpentarium that lets you take great shots of their snakes without risking life and limb.