I thought it might be fun to post some of my first photographs, taken when I was 14-years old. Some of you might like to do the same. How did we get into the style we have today is my question.
When I was young (six-years old), my idea of nature photography was something in a field guide. By the time I was 14 years old I was doing photography, using a Kodak Retina IIa, close-up lens, tripod, and light meter. By that point I not only wanted nature photos that would go in a field guide, but I wanted them to look nice too, to be like travel-poster photos. .
Here are some bad transfers of 35mm slides that will give you an idea as to what I was doing at 14-years old. My dad, who was a skilled studio-photographer was shocked when he saw my first attempt at photography, which I post some of here. These were taken in 1956 with the Kodak Retina 2a.
In the years since then I have produce many photos that could go in field guides, but less so all the time. Certainly, even when I was very young and loving nature, I was not walking out in the misty morning, breathing in the air, and imaging the scene as a typical nature-guide photo. Instead, I always understood nature as beautiful, as misty mornings, rose-colored dawn, and all of that. My point is that even when I was young, I separated in my mind photos for the nature guide from my-love-of-nature photos. The ones shown here are love-of-nature photos, and not field guide shots.
There came a point in my life when a nature-guide photo, whatever we could agree they such photos require, was no longer what I wanted to photograph. Instead, I was more into the misty-morning style of photo. At this point (today) I am not interested in abstract, industrial, or other styles of photography, but I like to see your examples.
I am interested in what I call “lens painting,” images with lots of bokeh, but clearly defined focus areas. So, if interested, post here your photos that show where you started and perhaps describe how you have ended up with your current style. After all, where I live it is still winter, so we have time.
