I don’t know if it’s necessary to reflect on whether why you should.
I began the original Bastards Book with a long, preachy essay titled ”Programming is for Anyone.” I’m going to avoid that here, because it’s not hard to convince people to take photographs. It’s so easy these days that anyone can do it.
In fact, I can’t think of any other reason why I still do photography other than it’s easy.
I bought my own camera back when I was working at a newspaper on the off-chance that I’d get to do a cool photo assignment, maybe become a travel/foreign correspondent someday who could photograph as well as write.
I don’t have that goal anymore but I still take as much time but I honestly couldn’t tell you why.
There are a few material benefits. I get paid once in awhile. I’ve made friends.
I don’t have a real point to this. I could go on about why journalism is important to the world. I could go on about how programming will make you better at about everything (certainly, I wouldn’t have been able to produce this book in less than two weeks without it).
I can’t tell you why you should waste an extra hour of your time taking more photos than you have on your Instagram.
What has it gotten me? Not much. Thousands of dollars on equipment, a lot I don’t use. A lot of time spent just editing through photos, stacking up hard drives on my desk. I barely even print them out.
Some people have asked that I could sell photos, that I should get a gallery. They’re probably right and I think at my skill level, I could get do it for a living.
But it woudln’t be very satisfying. I say this out of respect to professionals.
I have a hard time thinking about profit. The camera was once something I saw as a career opportunity. Now it’s more an excuse to go and do something. I’d take a lot fewer walks from work along the west side highway. I’d never go out in the blizzard.
I don’t even value my photos. I’ve never printed them to hang up in my apartment and after looking through them once and posting them online I don’t ever have the desire to look through them again. I guess I’ve been all happy that I was there to take the photos, having them is just an afterthought.
Photography is easy in that sense. And I exploit its easy because it’s easy to express myself, to stretch my brain and how I observe things and to capture what I see because it’s how I judge, at the time, the kind of things that I’ll miss and want to remember years later.
I don’t have to be paid in money to be happy for that.
So I don’t sell I enjoy that I can do it to just express myself to capture what I see for the days when I’ll miss it the most. I don’t have to be paid in money to be happy for that.
Why I don’t sell photos or make an effort at living is because I’ve gotten a lot out of taking photos. Doing anything else with them is anti-climatic. And I don’t have to justify what I’ve done, I have the photos to prove it.
So I don’t know how to convince you about whether it’s worth learning to take better photos. I’ve written as simple and committment free a guide as I can imagine.
Just about everyone enjoys snapping photos and on some level, appreciates the ability to capture what they witness. Plus, it’s so damn easy and cheap. There’s no book-learning at all if you don’t want it.
In fact, the ease of photography is probably the only way to explain why it’s my longest-running hobby. If I grew up in an age of having to buy film, long hours in the darkroom, hustling to get published in print and in galleries, I don’t think I could hack it.
I don’t get much profit from my photos. I’ve sunk enough money and time into it to be another profession and at one time.
I don’t even treasure my photos that much. If it weren’t for the ease of publishing on the web and sharing on the FAcebook, I don’t think I would bring myself to edit through most of my photos. Many .
So why do I do it? I coudn’t say. It’s almost as if having a camera and being able to capture something is just one more reason to wake up early to walk to work, or take two-hours to walk home on the chance that the sunset will be interesting. I’ll sometimes truge through the snow or walk out to a commotion. I don’t know if I value the photos but I’m tahnkful I got to be there to take them.
I enjoy that I can do it to just express myself to capture what I see for the days when I’ll miss it the most. I don’t have to be paid in money to be happy for that.
I don’t have any inspirational words for taking up photography. It’s ceratainly not an easy route for profit. Spending on a big camera won’t get you there. The difference has always been in a
So what’s the rationale for moving past Instagram? I can’t really answer that.
There is still, in my opinion, a great gap between professional photographers and amateurs. The difference has always been in the dedication, creativity, not just in the equipment.
But not everyone can be a professional
I got into photography because I thought it’d help my journalism, in the off-chance that I’d be a foreign or travel correspondent. That’s no longer the dream but I’ve still spent enough money on cameras as most people spend on cars, and more time than any other hobby. It’s just a hobby, I don’t plan to make money from it.
There’s a lot of practical, concrete ways that this photo hobby has helped my life. I’m able to decorate my own websites, do a paid job once in awhile, etc. etc. and now, have something to write about. Right now I’m just happy that it’s given me a reason to take the long walk home or put on clothes for a blizzard, things I wouldn’t do if I weren’t interested in.
But I’m grateful that it’s given me an opportunity to share the world. It’s given me excuses to take two-hour detours on the walk home and to head out in blizzards just to see what’s out there. And it’s given me a chance to share with others.
I don’t know if that’s valuable to others but if you’re someone with a camera too complex to figure out it may be worth trying it out. I hope this book is useful to figuring it out.
I’m not someone who enjoyus looking back. But photography does help me look forward to things.I do like being able to decorate my own websites, send photos as gifts to friends, and have a lot
People mistakenly think that I enjoy looking at photos. I don’t and if it weren’t for places to easily share them, I’d probably never spend time editing or looking back through. them. I don’t like spending time looking back and putting together this book. Putting together this book was a nice way to force myself to see what I’ve made and I realized I was really lucky to see what I’ve seen. Some of them were times that I just happened to have a camera with me. Most other times were
I’ve tried to make this guide committment free as possible. If you want to go further, realize you have to commit. It’s not skill or technique that separates the amateurs from the professionals but hard work, drive, passion, some amount of luck, things that I have nothing to say about.
I can’t say that. I’m a photographer now because, frankly, it is easy.
My career is in journalism and I thought it’d be useful to be good at something besides just writing and research, just in case I ever became a foreign correspondent or travel or etc.
Even as that’s not the goal any more, I’m still in the hobby, and I still spend plenty of money on it.
I guess I’m writing all of this to tell you the obvious. Even if this book teaches you all the skill snecessary to be a great photographer, it doesn’t teach you anything about loving photography or how to be a professional in it.
You can get a
