My photographer story

My earliest contact with photography in my youth has been through a grand-father who was quite gifted, but also obsessive with his wishes for a perfect photo. It was before the advent of digital photography, so he used all those “archaic” tools to measure light, distances, exposures etc, and since he was so meticulous, the process was rather endless. 

He had asked me to pose every time that he or I visited one another, and it would typically take 45 minutes to get to the first shot being fired. Back then, I hated the experience, but loved my grand-father more than my distaste for the entire procedure as well as the result... Indeed, I grew rather timid and didn’t like seeing my own photos, and in fact still lack the confidence to pose. 

But, some years ago, I had an online friend who loved photography and for our chats, I had consented to buy a webcam so we could see one another. In time, I started taking photos of the house and the area, to share with her my local views, as an exchange for her photos. 

But, my first shots were quite bad. I only used a low-definition, very basic camera. I started to like rare positive results, and wanted to improve, and thus had invested in my first “real” digital camera, a Sony DSC-H2, which was also my first bride camera. With no knowledge of manual settings, my shots were all too dark to see anything, so during my first years as an noob photographer, I used only automatic modes.

My passion grew; I started to learn techniques with tutorials found on youtube, and eventually understood a bit more. I began using semi and full manual modes, getting nicer results in growing numbers, and eventually decided to upgrade from that 6MP camera to a more modern 10MP, the Fuji Hs10, with a tiltable screen, and a lot more functions.

In parallel, I also bought tripods. My first was very cheap, but very basic. The second offered me a lot more flexibility, and became a very nice tool for my newest passion in digital photography, which I started about 3 or so years ago : macrophotography, or the photography of little subjects.

I use a macro-attachment lens, which is cheaper than a fully functional macro-lens for DSLR, but is also a lot more affordable for my little budget.

I believe that although it’s true gear isn’t the sole concern, it can contribute to the photographer’s talents, knowledge and an eye for composition. Indeed, even the most gifted person cannot push a camera to do more than it has been built for, or the functions that it has been included with.

Photography has become a form of self-expression, something I was quite deprived of and stifled during my entire youth. As an adult, I like to use it both for artistic value, but also as documentation of the world around me - or, in the case of macro, the world next or beneath me, on the group, on plants. 

I like this dual aspect of my photography, showing both the microcosm with those small subjects, and landscapes, or big subjects, for the macrocosm. 

I hope to be regular with my posts, but cannot guarantee. I maintain other blogs and  have quite a few activities. Until next post, have a great day!