A Photography Lifestyle

Here’s the thing. I am not a professional photographer. I don’t have loads of useful photography tips or know what the best equipment is. What I can talk about is how taking pictures has changed my life and my feeling of passion for capturing beauty in pictures.

It all started about 3 years ago. I started to take my camera with me when I took my dogs for a walk in the woods. Soon, I found I didn’t want to go anywhere without my camera. I upgraded my camera to a Sony Cybershot 5.1mp and have found that it gives me consistently good results. I also picked up an Exilim 10.1mp to carry around with me. I love to get in the “zone” (forgive the cliché) and keep shooting my subject as many times as I can from as many angles as I can. Then, as soon I can, I go to my computer to download the shots and see what I’ve got. Usually, I get one or two good shots out of 10 to 15 pictures and that makes me feel great.

Sometimes I get nothing and I have to chalk it up for a loss. Then, sometimes I get the great shot. The one that, when I look at it, I get a little thrill inside. That’s how I feel about photography. It doesn’t matter what I am doing, it all gets dropped if I see something I think will be a good picture, and I run for my camera. Even if I have worked all night (I am an ER nurse by night), if I see a Praying Mantis on my flowers, I wake totally up and can spend an hour taking pictures before I remember how tired I am.

I upgraded my printer to an Epson R320 which puts out a great print but I hear that Cannon really has topped the market in digital photo printing. I use Photoshop to work on my photos because I have used it for years and am most comfortable with it. Here’s more on Photoshop. Hours fly by when I am working on my pictures. I get so absorbed into it, I don’t come up for breath for hours. That’s the passion I am talking about. Photography has changed my life by giving me a creative expression of myself that I have never had before.

When I ask my self what I want to do with my pictures, I know what I really want is for them to be hanging on a wall giving someone else as much joy as they did me when I took them. The next question is, are they good enough to sell? Could I at least make a partial living by selling pictures? I built a web-site with that in mind but have not yet advertised it. When I started checking out other photography on-line I found the problem was, whenever I saw that my pictures where equal to or better than someone else’s I felt good about myself and conversely, whenever I felt my photos were inferior to someone else’s I felt bad about myself – which was a lot. It reminded me of the Deserata’, written in 1692 by an unknown author and found in Old St. Paul’s Church in Baltimore, Maryland that says, “If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.”

So, no I don’t use different lenses or different settings, or tripods and special lighting and I haven’t taken a class though I badly need to. My message is: don’t ever let anything dissuade you from being a photographer at what ever level you find yourself. If people, places, children, animals or nature inspire you to pick up a camera and take a picture, then go for it – enjoy!

This picture is the first picture I took that inspired me to keep taking pictures and still remains one of my favorites.

So, for the first time I am inviting people to please check out my web site by clicking on my name below.