The first digital camera I had any relevant experience with was my ex-girlfriend's Sony something-or-other. It was a small pink camera (she was that kind of girl). The first digital camera I personally owned was a Canon EOS XSi/450D/Kiss X2. (I knew I was into photography by then.) For those actually interested, I bought it as a Boxing Day sale in December 2008 (the 28th, as I remember it).
Looking at all my photos taken with that camera, I can definitely see how I've evolved as a photographer. The first shots were mostly of my cat (Swarley was the best cat, ever), or of general city landscapes. Everything was experimental and new. I was trying to master all the different settings and how they interact with each other. Most of the results were standard fare; just generic photos of someone starting out. I don't look back and wish I could have taken any of them differently because at the time I was in a learning phase: taking photos of everything I could to figure out what type of photos I enjoyed taking.
Given that I now consider myself a street photographer more than anything else, I wanted to share my first street photos that I still remembered. The first shot I truly consider my first street photography photograph is the first one under here, of the lady walking down the street. Funny thing: I had the hardest time actually finding this particular shot amidst the 7200-or-so I took with the XSi, not because it was particular hard to find, but because I could have sworn it was black and white (and so I was scrolling through trying to find my black and white photographs). It turns out, I'd seen it a year or so back, and at the time re-imagined how I'd have edited it with a more mature photographic mind, and that's the picture I remembered taking in my head.
At the time I was taking RAW and JPG at the same time, not because I particularly edited my photos, but because I'd heard it was the best thing to do. As such, the photos here are presented unedited as they came out of the camera. I could tweak them and improve them a little bit, but that wouldn't be as authentic as presenting them as they actually are. I hope you enjoy these. It was fun scrolling through my first shots again. For those interested, these are very early shots out of my camera, numbered 236, 520 and 5160.
Again, I consider this shot my very first street shot. Oh, I'd taken shot of random people before, but it was at Winterlude, which is a festival, where people are plentiful. Besides, those shots are not as good as this one. I took this photo simply because I liked the way the lady looked walking down the street. She's tiny in here but it was a start. If I were to edit this photo again, I would definitely change it to black and white, and perhaps lower the highlights to lessen the whites of the snow. Overall, I consider this a good start.
This is perhaps simply a good shot because of the reflections on the ground. I also like this because I don't know if I'd trudge through the rain again to get some nice shots (though I probably should). There's nothing special about this shot, but the composition is good and the reflection add a nice touch. If I were to edit this shot, I might just play with the clarity and contrast, but not too much else.
I actually remember walking through the Market and hanging around while the blurry guy on the left was doing magic tricks for crowds of people. I remember sticking around for a while, grabbing shots here and there. There's one shot of the magician I have, where he looks intense and energetic and, oddly enough, a little desperate in my eyes, though that last thought may completely be a reflection of my own feelings at time. Looking back at the photos I took that night, I prefer this one. My outlook on life has changed, and the sense of wonder and happiness in this lady's fact seems more my style right now, which is why I chose this photo.
Because it was night, I have a lot of blurry shots from this night, either from bad focus or slow shutter speed. Even though this was shot 5160 I took with this camera (not including the photos I was taking with my 2 point and shoots at the time), I was still learning (why I took this photo at ISO 200 is beyond me right now, but c'est la vie). Taking this shot now, knowing what I know, even with the XSi and 50mm f/1.8 lens, I would definitely get better results. I'm still learning now, but I feel I've come a long way since then. I don't ridicule myself for not editing my photos back then, or shooting night scenes with ISO 200, but the fact that I see issues with my older photos means that I've moved on and I've learned new things. Hopefully my photos have gotten better, and hopefully as time goes on, I keep getting better. Maybe in another 6 years, I'll go through my 2014 shots and do a retrospective post like this one.
