Advancement and Learning

A couple years ago I realized my cameras weren't good enough to accomplish what I would like in photographs. So, I saved up my money and invested in a Canon Rebel T3.

It was something completely different from my regular point and shoot cameras. My Rebel had so many settings I was overwhelmed. I didn't even know what half the buttons and settings even meant. So, I played around and learned slowly but surely what this camera was all about. There is always more to learn with cameras and I am still learning.

After the initial shock and practicing, I could get down to business. I took hundreds of pictures at a time then rushed to my computer to look through them on the bigger screen. I was so happy with the quality of those photos, but there was so much more that was missing. Some were too bright, almost harsh. Others were too dark to see the real beauty and detail. Photoshop can only help so much. I needed to learn how to use my settings better.

A lot of planning can go into getting the perfect shot. The lighting, angle, and the camera are all clay that has to be molded the right way to get the desired product. The biggest issue for me is to find out what setting I should have my camera on for the picture I am taking. And it's extra challenging to make all the manual setting cooperate with each other. These take a lot of time, patience, and practice to master. As I am still in the process, I always keep an ear and eye open for new methods.

Portrait photography has always been an unattainable wish of mine. As hard as I try, my portraits aren't as flattering to the subject as they should be. Still life and nature is a lot easier to make beautiful but a human face has to be at the perfect angle, with the perfect lighting or it won't come across as good as the real life subject.

“There are no bad pictures; that's just how your face looks sometimes.” 
― Abraham Lincoln

Photography is just like any hobby; Practice makes perfect.

The Beginning

“Everything that flickered could be made permanent. That was what drew him to photography, what made every painstaking step worth it: the permanence of the image. That was what fascinated him, the working against time...”
― Katie Roiphe, Still She Haunts Me

It had all started when my mom bought the family a digital camera. It was a big bulky thing, but that's how they all were in those days. An old Kodak Easy Share, probably as basic as we could get for 2006, was my inspiration. The moment I picked up that camera my life changed. The first time that shutter went off, I knew I was hooked.

As a 12 year old I didn't have the most amazing experiences or go to the most interesting places, but I took that hunk of plastic everywhere, and I'd take pictures of anything. I found beauty in the most basic things. Even if the image turned out pixelated or blurry, I'd still cherish that picture. It was capturing a moment, a memory, a beauty. Something that may be gone forever.

My computer albums were full of thumbnails of my friends, my family, school functions, and most importantly; nature. The outdoors was my playground with that camera. I'd wander our acres for hours finding anything to snap a picture of. Leaves, trees, hunting shacks, mushrooms, flowers. Everything was a wonder when looking through that lens. Even if the picture wasn't as good as the reality, I'd still see the beauty in it that I saw that day.

My pictures weren't the best, and that's not modesty. I like to think I had a good eye, but I didn't have the quality and materials to be all that great. It was my hobby, a fun and enjoyable one. I loved it and knew that this would be something I'd continue to do.