My first steps in photography
Earlier in the year, I was researching doing useful web sites, I found Philip and Alex's Guide to Web Publishing, which was both very interesting and also quite well illustrated, with Philip Greenspun's own photos. It also led me to read his Travels with Samantha, which not only caused me to reconsider my stance on photography, but to take it on myself.
See, before, when I travelled and saw things, I only committed things to my own memory, because I have a dislike of "tourist photos", where people take pictures left and right, without taking the time to be there. I preferred to be part of it, rather than merely being an observer. This explains a bit the complete lack of photos from my trip to Germany, where I saw all kinds of wonderful things and had a lot of fun.
But after seeing some of Philip's travelogues, I realized that while I might still be right for the common "snapping tourist photos" type of photography, that trying to capture the feel of a place by practising photography as a craft could actually get me closer, rather than separate me from the experience, much like a painter needs to see all the tiny details.
I was also contemplating getting a non-computer hobby, feeling that my life was being a bit single-tracked, and photography provided good opportunity to develop my right brain, artistic activity, while having enough technicality to it that I could bridge over and still something fun for my left brain.
So I got myself an Olympus Stylus Epic (fixed focal with a fast lens point and shoot camera), and started shooting, doing my best to find an interesting angle and squeeze as much as I could out of such a simple camera. I did some night photography, and tried my best to capture atmospheres.
When I go and travel, nowadays, I still try to be part of the experience, and I'll often segregate my time between having the camera at hand or not. I'll go out alone with my camera bag and tripod to go do photography, or I'll leave the camera behind. I find both to be very rewarding.
See, before, when I travelled and saw things, I only committed things to my own memory, because I have a dislike of "tourist photos", where people take pictures left and right, without taking the time to be there. I preferred to be part of it, rather than merely being an observer. This explains a bit the complete lack of photos from my trip to Germany, where I saw all kinds of wonderful things and had a lot of fun.
But after seeing some of Philip's travelogues, I realized that while I might still be right for the common "snapping tourist photos" type of photography, that trying to capture the feel of a place by practising photography as a craft could actually get me closer, rather than separate me from the experience, much like a painter needs to see all the tiny details.
I was also contemplating getting a non-computer hobby, feeling that my life was being a bit single-tracked, and photography provided good opportunity to develop my right brain, artistic activity, while having enough technicality to it that I could bridge over and still something fun for my left brain.
So I got myself an Olympus Stylus Epic (fixed focal with a fast lens point and shoot camera), and started shooting, doing my best to find an interesting angle and squeeze as much as I could out of such a simple camera. I did some night photography, and tried my best to capture atmospheres.
When I go and travel, nowadays, I still try to be part of the experience, and I'll often segregate my time between having the camera at hand or not. I'll go out alone with my camera bag and tripod to go do photography, or I'll leave the camera behind. I find both to be very rewarding.