When you ask a photographer what they love about photography, you will probably get a different answer from each.
Recently I heard these reasons on “What do you love about photography?”
“I love the investigation and the searching. Taking a walk with my camera down my street or down a nature path and looking all around me for interesting perspectives.”
“That it captures a moment in time otherwise lost to memory.”
“Getting that one shot that has that look that you have in your head.”
“The art, the creativity, the possibilities”
“Looking for that angle that nobody has ever noticed”
I am a 61 year old photographer, but until around 10 years ago I was just a beginner. Sure I had a camera when I was younger. But the cost of film processing was more than I was willing to spend, so the interest faded.
Until photography turned digital around the turn of the century. I jumped on the digital bandwagon, but only used point and shoot cameras. Around 2007 I was thinking about purchasing my first DSLR, but didn’t actually make that first purchase until 2011 when I purchase a used DSLR. Maybe Ironically, it was the same model that I almost purchased 4 years earlier.
That was the beginning of what turned into my new career as a photographer. I snapped 1000’s of photos those first few years at various events. Many of them at High School sporting events. Learning a little more every time I pushed the shutter.
Around 2015, I began to seriously look at things in a different way. Looking for those unusual angles at events, seeing the natural beauty around me. I began doing exactly as the first quote mentioned, “investigation and the searching”.
Since then I have photographed many events as a photojournalist. Some paid, but many just to share. I have also gone on plenty of “photo walks” looking for whatever scenes I can discover.
Do I have a love for photography? I guess you can say that I do.