I'm so sorry for your injury and pain. What a bummer, but I'm glad that you've found a hobby that you love.
What got you started in nature & wildlife photography?
- Thread starter Abinoone
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I grew up in Idaho .... I have hunted all sorts of game, fished, hiked, backpacked, 4wheeled, rode a Yamaha Enduro, road bicycles, mountain bikes and road cross bikes to work. Worked on wildlife conservation for many years. Spent most of my life around wildlife and living where there was lot's of it and fell in love early on with Sage Grouse and the Sage Steppe environment they live in. Borrowed my wifes camera for a trip to Alaska to fish for grayling and hung ptarmigan broke her telephoto the first night out. A photo I took of a grayling on Nome Creek Creek north of Fairbanks with the pocket point and shoot I had also borrowed from my wife got me hooked on photography when I saw the colors and memories when I opened it up on the computer back home. When I retired the non profits I volunteered for started asking me to photograph things for them, I started taking classes and buying my own gear. Got interested in my wifes birding hobby and one thing led to another 
clippy
Well-known member
I’ve had an interest in photography for many years. It started when I was a kid with a Kodak instamatic camera. I took a few classes in high school and played around with black and white film. I really liked darkroom work and hoped to have my own darkroom someday but that never happened. Around 1980 I bought my first slr and loved it but too many other interests so the camera was put on the shelf. I raced cars for many years so not much money for camera gear. Digital was sounding good to me so when the D300s came out I bought one. I was wanting to get into Wildlife photography but just couldn’t make myself spend the money on better glass. One day I ran into a local professional Wildlife photographer and the rest is history. He has talked me into buying lots of camera gear and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.
Graham Clark
gc-graphs
Probably an outlier on here as I've never shot wildlife
Started photography with an old Praktica in 1976 at the age of 12, moved to an FM in 1982 and been with Nikon ever since.
Always had an interest in the military and powered flight which became my favourite subjects to shoot. Nowadays I also work on historic architecture and geographic projects in addition to the flight and military stuff.
I see quite a bit of crossover in the techniques and approach of wildlife shooters and the stuff I shoot, also been a follower of Steve's YouTube channel for a fair few years and still learn from his output and from this forum
Really do enjoy looking at all your wildlife shots and respect the skill and dedication that goes into them
Started photography with an old Praktica in 1976 at the age of 12, moved to an FM in 1982 and been with Nikon ever since.
Always had an interest in the military and powered flight which became my favourite subjects to shoot. Nowadays I also work on historic architecture and geographic projects in addition to the flight and military stuff.
I see quite a bit of crossover in the techniques and approach of wildlife shooters and the stuff I shoot, also been a follower of Steve's YouTube channel for a fair few years and still learn from his output and from this forum
Really do enjoy looking at all your wildlife shots and respect the skill and dedication that goes into them
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Beautiful memories, Ken.I grew up in Idaho .... I have hunted all sorts of game, fished, hiked, backpacked, 4wheeled, rode a Yamaha Enduro, road bicycles, mountain bikes and road cross bikes to work. Worked on wildlife conservation for many years. Spent most of my life around wildlife and living where there was lot's of it and fell in love early on with Sage Grouse and the Sage Steppe environment they live in. Borrowed my wifes camera for a trip to Alaska to fish for grayling and hung ptarmigan broke her telephoto the first night out. A photo I took of a grayling on Nome Creek Creek north of Fairbanks with the pocket point and shoot I had also borrowed from my wife got me hooked on photography when I saw the colors and memories when I opened it up on the computer back home. When I retired the non profits I volunteered for started asking me to photograph things for them, I started taking classes and buying my own gear. Got interested in my wifes birding hobby and one thing led to another
Ya gotta watch out for those encouraging pros. The worst thing that's happened to my wallet is my pro mentor.
tclune
Well-known member
When I retired. I moved to a new area. To help fill my time, I took the only photography course offered at a local continuing education school, which happened to be on nature photography. One of my classmates became a good friend. He is a serious bird photographer, and so I became one under his direction. For a life-long city boy, it really helps to have the guidance of someone who knows where to go and can tell you what you are seeing.
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clippy
Well-known member
I don’t regret it for a minute.Ya gotta watch out for those encouraging pros. The worst thing that's happened to my wallet is my pro mentor.
Some guy, by the name of Steve Perry got me interested in wildlife photography. He's to blame.
arshuter
Active member
Oh I did remarry and she treated my two as if they were her own. Also had tons of help from neighbors and family so I wasn't totally alone, only for 6 years.
Kjellis
Well-known member
For me you could say it was the love of nature. When I was a teenager i brought my parents film camera with me, it was basicly a point and shoot camera, but I brought it with me in the mountains hiking, camping, fishing trout and hunting ptarmigans. I shot mainly landscapes. My first DSLR was a Nikon D80 with the 16-70mm (I think it was) kit lens and I was still shooting landscapes and stuff like that. I’ve always had a camera with me spending time in nature, but taking photos was always second to the other things I was doing. Then a friend of mine, who sadly lost the battle against cancer last december, replaced his old 300mm f4 with the new 300mm PF and he pushed me to borrow his old 300 f4 lens. Luckily I might add! I was borrowing the 300mm all the time and more and more I found my self shooting ptarmigans with my camera rather than with my shotgun and now I haven’t picked up my shotgun since 2018 and I’ve never looked back. Now it’s all about spending time in nature with my camera 
For family vacations we hiked the California Sierra for 14 years carrying a lightweight camera. It was almost all scenery shots. When my son went to college we switched to scuba diving and after a period with an Olympus 5050 I switched to Nikon (d-200, d-300) and focused on macro shots with a Nikkor 105 macro. Getting to old for scuba diving I am now into birds (d-500, 500pf)
My nature photography story isn't all that dissimilar to what others have posted. In my teens and twenties I was a hunter and fisherman (still love to fish). I've had a passion for the outdoors as long as I can remember. As a child there was a stream across the road from our house and I spent countless hours there looking for snakes, fishing worms, crayfish and bugs of all kinds. I also always thought the different wildflowers to be pretty.
About 1980 or so I got a Minolta XG7 and the kit lens and a 135mm lens. I started taking photos of wildflowers. I would look at the slides and then in some books I had and wrote the names of the flowers on the cardboard holding the slide film. A couple years later, the electronics on that Minolta went bad and I bought a Nikon FE2. I traded the Minolta lenses in for a Nikon Micro lens. I don't remember I think 60mm. I was soon spending a lot of my free time laying in the mud and on wet forest floor taking photos of flowers. Some of my friends thought it odd that a guy would lay in the mud taking photos of flowers but I always loved them. I later picked up a 70-210 lens and did some wildlife that was tolerant.
Then I got married, got a real job, had bills to pay, had a son to raise and was working 60 hours a week. Photography took a back seat for the next 30 years or so. Fast forward to present time, my interest in photography rekindled. I sold my Nikon film gear on Ebay for a fair price and bought a D5000 then a D7200 and lately a D500. Of course the first lens was a macro, then a150-600 then a 200-500, a wide angle, on and on and on....
Now, I still deer hunt but shooting them with a camera allows me to shoot the same deer many times where a rifle only allows one shot. I still take a lot of wildflower photos and some landscapes.
I'm retired and my wife and I spend 3-5 days a week out in the field shooting photos. We manage to sell a few along the way, we sell a few calendars every year but mainly I take photos for enjoyment. Lately, my photography seems to have more of a mission to educate and build awareness of the beauty that surrounds us. We share on social media platforms and were going to give a talk about local wildlife and nature photography before COIVD shut everything down. Someday I'll try to get that scheduled again.
Like many of us, I quest for the quintessential shot, the perfect composition and exposure. However, to be honest, the quality of the experience is far more important than the quality of the photograph. I've been married to my wife for 39 years. In the past 6 or so years that we've been spending time in the field, I've re-learned what an incredible woman she is. Working 60 hours a week, I had lost sight of what a special person she is. I'm glad nature photography has brought us together again.
About 1980 or so I got a Minolta XG7 and the kit lens and a 135mm lens. I started taking photos of wildflowers. I would look at the slides and then in some books I had and wrote the names of the flowers on the cardboard holding the slide film. A couple years later, the electronics on that Minolta went bad and I bought a Nikon FE2. I traded the Minolta lenses in for a Nikon Micro lens. I don't remember I think 60mm. I was soon spending a lot of my free time laying in the mud and on wet forest floor taking photos of flowers. Some of my friends thought it odd that a guy would lay in the mud taking photos of flowers but I always loved them. I later picked up a 70-210 lens and did some wildlife that was tolerant.
Then I got married, got a real job, had bills to pay, had a son to raise and was working 60 hours a week. Photography took a back seat for the next 30 years or so. Fast forward to present time, my interest in photography rekindled. I sold my Nikon film gear on Ebay for a fair price and bought a D5000 then a D7200 and lately a D500. Of course the first lens was a macro, then a150-600 then a 200-500, a wide angle, on and on and on....
Now, I still deer hunt but shooting them with a camera allows me to shoot the same deer many times where a rifle only allows one shot. I still take a lot of wildflower photos and some landscapes.
I'm retired and my wife and I spend 3-5 days a week out in the field shooting photos. We manage to sell a few along the way, we sell a few calendars every year but mainly I take photos for enjoyment. Lately, my photography seems to have more of a mission to educate and build awareness of the beauty that surrounds us. We share on social media platforms and were going to give a talk about local wildlife and nature photography before COIVD shut everything down. Someday I'll try to get that scheduled again.
Like many of us, I quest for the quintessential shot, the perfect composition and exposure. However, to be honest, the quality of the experience is far more important than the quality of the photograph. I've been married to my wife for 39 years. In the past 6 or so years that we've been spending time in the field, I've re-learned what an incredible woman she is. Working 60 hours a week, I had lost sight of what a special person she is. I'm glad nature photography has brought us together again.
clippy
Well-known member
You’re very lucky Jeff. I imagine that on a yearly average I may only have the time to get out a couple of times a month, if that makes any sense. But I don’t complain it’s just a big handicap. I haven’t been to the woods since the spring. Probably will catch up with you sometime over the coming winter.
I'm looking forward to it!
Thern
Well-known member
I was a combatphotog for allmost 40 yrs (blue helmets) and I witnessed things I will never share because they’re worse than one can even imagine..
Despite I’m a well-balanced strong character LOL I got more and more traumatized over the years resulting in a serious brake down at the age of 56. (Yup I reached the edge of insanity and was hospitalized for allmost a year in a confined hospital)
During my recovery I didn’t want to even touch a camera again.
When I was home again my youngest daughter (have 5 of those witches lol) happened to have picked up photography and particularly WL photography.
We lived in Belgium those days on the border of a nature reserve so she had lots of opportunities.
I was told to go walking/hiking as part of my recovery but I was not allowed to go on my own, so my youngest accompanied me as much as possible.
Offcourse she allways took her rig with her which grew my interest in WL photography.
Long story short, I picked up photography again, was asked to be the reserve manager (shooting for three organisations) and recovered completely.
Last spring we sold our wife’s businesses and migrated to France where we bought a nice estate near Le Blanc in La Brenne.
Our youngest came with us, we have room for the rest of the pack and we can drive upnorth in less than a day to see them, or to ‘kidnap’ some grandchildren to stay with us.
Despite my wife’s illness (She was diagnosed with Parkinson) and my current weak condition, I’m still on O2 but progressing allbeit in a slower pace than I’d like I’m a happy camper these days!
for those who don’t know La Brenne
Despite I’m a well-balanced strong character LOL I got more and more traumatized over the years resulting in a serious brake down at the age of 56. (Yup I reached the edge of insanity and was hospitalized for allmost a year in a confined hospital)
During my recovery I didn’t want to even touch a camera again.
When I was home again my youngest daughter (have 5 of those witches lol) happened to have picked up photography and particularly WL photography.
We lived in Belgium those days on the border of a nature reserve so she had lots of opportunities.
I was told to go walking/hiking as part of my recovery but I was not allowed to go on my own, so my youngest accompanied me as much as possible.
Offcourse she allways took her rig with her which grew my interest in WL photography.
Long story short, I picked up photography again, was asked to be the reserve manager (shooting for three organisations) and recovered completely.
Last spring we sold our wife’s businesses and migrated to France where we bought a nice estate near Le Blanc in La Brenne.
Our youngest came with us, we have room for the rest of the pack and we can drive upnorth in less than a day to see them, or to ‘kidnap’ some grandchildren to stay with us.
Despite my wife’s illness (She was diagnosed with Parkinson) and my current weak condition, I’m still on O2 but progressing allbeit in a slower pace than I’d like I’m a happy camper these days!
for those who don’t know La Brenne
Great story! You've been a lucky man, and even luckier to realize it.
Wow, what an amazing story. I can't imagine what you've seen over the years. Glad that you're doing better, and have your children nearby - truly a blessing.
Thern
Well-known member
Believe me when I say be happy not being able to imagine what I witnessed during my working days…
Let me say it this way I have witnessed how war can bring up the very allmost unbelieveable best in people but allso the blackest sadistic horror one can (not?) imagine in others.
I consider myself a blessed man with my wife, my 5 daughters with their partners and our (increasing number of) grand-children.
Joe Donahue
Member
I gravitated to birds in the first grade as my teacher gave us prints to copy when we had inclement weather at recess. Fast forward to college and there was an extra credit given in my Ornithology class for taking 10 photos of birds. Easy I thought. Using an Instamatic, I shot away, waited for the film to be developed and was appalled at what I had. Too late to do another extra credit project I handed them in. Enrolled in a Photography class my last semester with a Yashiko TL Electro and eventually got a Vivitar 300mm lens. I was set. My first pictures were black and white of Turkey Vultures coming into to roost in the evening. One of my coolest shots was from behind an 8" howitzer with the shell going down range. Yeah I know, not a bird but boy was it flying. My wife thinks I am nuts, 'don't you already have a picture of that bird?' . The Nikon 500mm PF has been a game changer for me. I did eventually track down my college Professor last year and emailed him a few recent photos and apologized for the ones I submitted 40 plus years ago.
MYount
Active member
When I was young my dad got a subscription to Boys Life magazine. I started noticing these photographs from all these camps they were advertising. We didn't have the money for me to go to any camp so my dad got me a subscription to National Geographic. He also was an avid hunter so he had a subscription to a couple of different wildlife magazines. That started the dream of photographing wildlife. This was in about 1969-74. When it was getting close to my 13th birthday in 1974, my dad asked me if I wanted to learn what he did for a living. He worked on TVs. I told him no I wanted to be a photographer. He went to a pawn shop and bought me an old Leica camera (can't even remember the model) that had one 35mm screw on lens, a screw on teleconverter, and three filters. He also bought a handful of B/W film. He told me he would teach me to develop it because I couldn't afford to send it in as long as I through Hay all summer to pay for a cheap enlarger, trays, paper, etc. I played with that camera taking pictures of everything that I could see until I join the Marine Corps when I was 17. When I was in Japan I bought a Pentax ME Super. I was in heaven. I got a 70-200 mm lens and I could shoot color. I graduated from that to a Nikon fm2, that I replaced twice, and retired that last August. I started getting into photographing ducks, birds, deer, etc. Last August I bought my first digital camera when I got hurt and force retired. It was a Nikon d500, Nikon 200-500 f5.6, Nikon 70-200 have f2.8fl, and a Nikon 24-70 f2.8. I started getting into wildlife and since then I have a shot a little over 10,000 images on the d500. Almost exclusively wildlife, mature, and birds.
D
Deleted member 115
Guest
I have always had an interest in photography to some extent but age and being wore out has put it ahead of motocross, hunting, back country snowboarding, etc...
Mostly I just appreciate nature and the wild outdoors and even get to share my views with loved ones and other enthusiasts, hopefully raising an appreciation of nature with them as well.
It's actually more affordable and feels every bit as rewarding to me now than the other hospital hobbies. I just don't have the time to spend on exploring at the moment. retirement isn't very far off though.
Mostly I just appreciate nature and the wild outdoors and even get to share my views with loved ones and other enthusiasts, hopefully raising an appreciation of nature with them as well.
It's actually more affordable and feels every bit as rewarding to me now than the other hospital hobbies. I just don't have the time to spend on exploring at the moment. retirement isn't very far off though.
Quite a story and history! I too have fond memories of Boys Life, along with Field & Stream.
MYount
Active member
Field & stream was one of my dad's magazines. He thought he was Daniel Boone. We take off for an extended weekend with nothing but a little bit of water, our bows with about 5 hunting arrows each, and a fishing arrow with reel. Being a younger kid using a 50# fiberglass recurve bow and trying to hold it steady while you're aiming in on whatever you're shooting will make your shoulders strong. He would teach me what you could and could not eat as far as vegetation. We take tent halves like we used to carry in the Marine Corp. I learned how to read a compass, a topographical map, how to trap and skin just about any animal alive, start a fire with a magnifying glass while the Sun's still out so you don't waste waterproof matches. I had a pretty good immersion into wildlife and nature. I learned a lot from him
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