Today I read a blog entry in kwerfeldein.de that I thought warranted an answer by me. Martin wrote about what makes him enthusiastic about photography, stating that the ongoing learning (alone as well as with others) while seeing results and successes is a big part of what he likes about photography. At the end of the post, he asked his readers, what it is for them that makes them enthusiastic about photography. I’m not yet sure how this blog post will end, so sorry for any jump in thoughts I might do.
Photography is for me, at least at the moment, one of my favorite hobbies – that is especially the part about going out and taking pictures. It’s become a passion or an addiction, depending on how you want to look at it. When I am on vacation I will have my camera with me and will be taking thousands of pictures – there is some inner force that is telling me that I have to keep taking pictures.
What I love about it, is the creative process – thinking about how to achieve an unusal perspective or an visually appealing perspective. Oftentimes this process is very fuzzy for me – I’ll look through the view finder and will try different perspectives, sometimes finding a perfect perspective where I least suspected it. That’s a wonderful experience to me, seeing those shots, especially after a longer time and still marveling at the photo.
Another point that I didn’t even think about but that Martin’s post made me think about: the learning experience. What he wrote is totally true, photography is all about learning, there is not a single day you’ll go out shooting and won’t learn something new, even if it is just a small thing like a different perspective that will look amazing.
Like many other photographers, I love sharing my photos with others and especially seeing, reading and hearing how they react to my pictures. Yeah, I’ll admit it, I love getting compliments for my pictures. It’s a great confirmation that my shots sometimes really are good – that it’s not only my imagination that they are 😉
Two more points, and I swear, I’ll end this post 😉 One thing that I also love about taking pictures is the single focus I have on taking pictures while I am out taking pictures – there is nothing else on my mind during a photo shoot and I won’t notice much else beside my photo subjects when I am shooting. That is something that is really relaxing to me and a feeling I only have while taking photos or riding my motorcycle.
Okay, the last one. This one might either sound dumb or cheesy to you but I’ll say it anyway. Photography is something that reminds me of my granddad and makes me feel closer to him in a way. He learned photography before the second World War and was a war photographer during the war (unfortunately I haven’t been able to find any of his pictures) and had a drug store after the war, where he also sold photography gear – he was also the one who gave me my first camera when i was six years old. He died several years ago but I think he would be proud that one of his grandkids is so enthusiastic about photography.
