Getting involved with photography

One day I was thinking how and by whom I have been affected in the sense of photographing. I did not simply go to closest photo store and buy DSLR with lenses and other equipment. Instead, there has been slow progress going on for long time. But only until very recently  I did not call photography my interest.

My father used to shoot a lot on slide film but I was only involved being a subject. Later on I did experiment a bit with his Minolta 7000i but photos were just casual snap shots. The interesting point with that camera was its broken autofocus so I ended up focusing everything myself. 

A distant relative used to shoot much more and talk even more about photography. He also demonstrated the black and white developing and print process. I did not understand half what he said but I did read many camera magazines while visiting him. Maybe those artistic photos featuring women got my attention as a boy.

I did not have my own camera for a long time and the first one was a simple point and shoot. I chose the camera based on its size and ease to use. So I bought Canon IXUS 60. Being such a small camera it served well as a travel camera. I still have it and it is in good condition. But because of its limitations came the need for something else.

Actually, the topic of buying DSLR was brought up by my girl friend. She started to talk about how much better DSLR would be and she also listed up suitable models. I was rather hesitant because of the high price and I did not really see the need for such a camera. However, she managed to plant the idea in my mind and one day I bought Canon 450D with 18-55mm IS lens on the way home.

She has been giving quite a lot of comments about composition and style and I have been commenting her technical skills. Sometimes things get a bit heated but there is only one DSLR at the moment so we have to be able to co-operate. But we are both improving and for my surprise, I am the one spending time studying and trying out new things.