Hi and welcome to my first blog...
I recently picked up the photography hobby (in August, 2013). I've really been enjoying it and decided to start sharing what I've learned and what excites me about photography. I doubt if I've got anything revolutionary for long time photographers, but regardless, I'm blogging away anyway!
I'm going to post info about the equipment I've picked up and why, and I'll post pictures too. To get started, however, I'm going to explain what led me to photography.
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| Near Manzanita Campground on Oak Creek North of Sedona, AZ |
I used to fish. I fished a lot until I broke my foot in 2006. I fished from the lake banks and my broken foot prevented me from getting up and down the banks. When it healed enough, after a couple of months (that's another story...), I headed up to Catfish Point below Horseshoe Dam on the Verde River near Phoenix, AZ.
I liked fishing and missed it while my foot was out of commission. I liked getting out of the city, being in the quiet outdoors. I liked taking my dog Alvin, casting a line and working it or letting the rig dangle below a bobber. I'd take some nice cigars and a flask of whiskey. I'd try out things I'd read in Bassmaster magazine. It was an excellent way to clear my mind and soul at the end of the work week.
I had done primarily catch and release fishing in Arizona, catching large mouth bass, striped bass, catfish, sunfish, and trout (I did keep some trout). On my return to Catfish Point, I hooked into a smallish cat. When I landed it, it was making a moaning noise. I'd never heard that before from other catches and it just struck me that what I was doing was probably not much fun for the fish.
It struck me that the fish probably didn't like finding what they thought was something to eat only to end up with a jerk (take that however you want) from the food, a sharp poke in a lip, being drug through the water against their will, being lifted out of the water, their environment, struggling to breathe while out of water, having some large creature pull on the sharp thing stuck in their jaw, and then being thrown back in the water.
Call me slow if you want; I had thought about what I was doing to the fish before this particular incident. This time I heard a fish make noise and it was plainly obvious the noise wasn't that it was happy.
I packed up my stuff and left and haven't fished since. I might fish again someday, if I'm going to take the fish, but not just for my own sadistic benefit.
So...
I got into writing and recording music after that, as well as wood working. I still do those things too, but for the last year or more I've been wanting to do something that had a reason to be outdoors. Sure, there's camping and hiking or other things but I wanted more.
I have to admit also that I seem to have a fondness for technical things. A year and a half ago I got a drum set with the thought that I might learn to play it, but mainly so I could have a friend over to jam with me and he wouldn't have to drag a drum kit over. Plus, I wanted to record live drums - a challenge technically AND a need to buy some electronics and software!
I've thought about photography off and on over last year or more and this last August (2013) I went for it.
Photography combines technology with artistry. It is on the surface a fairly simple concept (at least now that some one else has figured out how to do everything) of capturing light on a sensor (film or digital) that's in focus and represents the image as close as possible in color and intensity. Finding and composing the image involves the artistry, at least if you are trying to do more than just a snapshot.
But you can get very deep into the technology very quickly. That seems to pique my interest.
It also gives me a reason to be outdoors, to travel, to camp. It gives me something to do when I'm outdoors that I enjoy - figuring out how to get a good image or to control the camera to get what I think is an "artsy" image such as a long exposure of moving water.
I'd had some years of experience earlier shooting video as well, and my father is/was a film photographer. I'd been exposed to composition, white balance, and other aspects of capturing images. It seemed like a good fit - I just pondered it about a year before taking the plunge to get a fully functional DSLR (Digital Single-Lens Reflex).
The final impetus was taking what I called a "drive about" in late July while on vacation for my birthday. I took my wife's Kodak camera and shot a lot of pictures of some of northern Arizona including Canyon de Chelly.
I really enjoyed the trip and taking the pictures and my wife liked seeing them when I got back. I posted some on Facebook and friends and family enjoyed them too. Basically I'd found something that I could do that I could share the results of and get positive responses to, plus I enjoyed the results, the technology, and being outdoors again. I was hooked!
After convincing my wife that I should spend some money on a new hobby (especially since the drum set had been quiet for a while), I started my research into what camera to get...
FYI - the picture above is from the first outing I took after getting my DSLR, one of the first shots with my new camera. It's an untouched jpeg (other than resizing). It may not be the best picture in the world but I still don't think it's bad. In fact, I like it and the others from that trip because it was the start of a new adventure with a new hobby at a new campground on a beautiful late summer day. Near Manzanita Campground, north of Sedona, AZ.
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