I've never represented myself as a good photographer; I'm a typical point and shoot sort of guy and if I deploy any settings at all it's more likely to be AUTO than anything else.
I can almost hear all you photographers cringing and saying..."Auto, what a loser."
I grew up in a world where people didn't turn cameras on themselves much, certainly not in the way they do these days; It was a world of 35mm film, the Kodak Instamatic and the high-tech Polaroid camera...Ah yes, the heady days of photography indeed. Smart phones didn't exist...Phones were things we spoke to people with, not used for photography.
I didn't care much for photography; I'd stand there whilst someone pointed and clicked the camera and hoped I didn't look stupid, but often did, and still do! Sometimes I was the clicker as well. I knew it was unlikely many outside my immediate family would see the images and so I didn't really care too much. The moment was captured and that was that.
These days everyone sees our photos though, if they choose to look. We splash them around on social media for the world to see and judge, and there seems to be no filter on what content makes its way into the wide world...Although there should be at times I think.
I'm no different, although hive is my only social media and I'm not one to post a lot of random selfie images; If you've seen my head you'll know why.
I post my photos here when relevant, in fact I prefer to use my own photos where possible as that shows personality, passion and effort I think. So, there's a few out there, certainly enough for people to determine that I am not a very good photographer. I'm okay with it too, don't feel sorry for me; If I wanted to be better at it I could be better at it.
Other than a photo taken specifically for hive I tend only to take photos for my own use: Holidays and events and capturing moments of my life with Faith that I feel I'd like to look back on. I don't take photos with the thought in mind that I'll share it with everyone online - It takes the pressure off I think. I generally don't do photography for the enjoyment of it, just a record of my life. However I bought a macro lens earlier in the year and whilst all I have produced with it is rubbish I've enjoyed the frustrating, bloody annoying process of capturing things in macro.
I follow a few good photographers and see many others here on hive. I enjoy your photos team, you know who you are. I don't want to be you though. I mean, sure it would be good to have some skills, but I'm more likely to spend time building my shooting skills with a gun than with a camera. I like looking at photos though, so keep it coming.
If you were to scroll back on my posts you'd see photos taken with various cameras I've had, a few different phone cameras and some that are photos of photos because I'm as old as a dinosaur and many of my photos are processed on paper. Some are probably below average, certainly to an experts eye, and others could probably be called average, but none are what a photographer would call good I think; It's just a fact and I'm quite alright with it. You do you, I'll do me. Besides, I enjoy looking at other people's photos in wonderment at how good they are, and how they created them. It's enjoyable.
Photos are merely a split second of life captured on film, (computer chip these days), and to me they have the same impact on me whether they are technically good and the light is right, the exposure blah blah blah...Or if they are average-to-bad. It's the image, the subject, that triggers the memory of that moment and helps me re-live it once again, not the technical brilliance of the photographer.
Yeah, I'm a bit of a photographic-loser I guess, certainly not a pro! That doesn't negate the value my photos have to me though, or the impact photography has on me.
Some point and shoot and others spend time getting a shot, taking it into an editing program and proceeding to spend hours doctoring it to make it look better than it was originally taken; Make it look perfect. Well, perfect doesn't exist in the real world and our lives are made up of many imperfect moments, far more than perfect ones...So, there's room for great photographers, and I hail you and enjoy your work...And there's room for scrubbers like me.
I don't believe a photo has to be perfect to be the memory of a moment and that it's the moment itself which is the most important thing to capture in life.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised.
Be well
Discord: galenkp#9209
P.s. If you're wondering what camera I have it's an Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III and I have several Olypmus lenses including a macro lens. The camera in this post was my grandfathers and I have it as a keepsake...And for when I need to do spy stuff.
