My journey so far

So this is a long post, it’s basically a story about how I picked up cameras 3 months ago because I was bored and could use the extra cash but ended up actually really enjoying taking pictures of whatever I wanted and it’s helping me get out of my introvert shell. I’d be more than happy to read some of your guys stories about how you got into photography and what you’re currently doing with it.I started using “dedicated” cameras about 3 months ago now. My dad told me that his friend needed a video for his business and asked if I could do it. I said sure why not and I picked up the Rebel T7. I pulled up to the guys office with a 50mm 1.8, a $15 Amazon lav mic, and 2 awful colored little LED panels for the lighting (we ended up using the lamps in his office lol). Well the guy loved the video and that made me really happy because I literally bought the camera and gear 2 days before the shoot and was stressing about how the hell I was going to pull off an interview.After that I decided I wanted to do this for a living so I started doing a lot of research about videography and cinematography, never really giving a thought to photography. Eventually another one of my dads friends asked me if I’d want to take pictures at his dads 80th birthday party. This made me pretty nervous because the thought of walking around taking pictures of people I didn’t know gave me anxiety. I decided to go out and buy a Canon M50 and let my girlfriend use my T7 so I wouldn’t be alone taking pictures of people. The event went ok, we were there for 3 ish hours and ended up only getting a combined 200 or so pictures. I had no idea how to edit photos and I didn’t have Lightroom or photoshop so I had to figure out how to convert those pesky CR2 and CR3 files to JPGs and edit them on some random internet photo editor. They came out about as good as you could make a lowlight JPG with shitty on camera flash look.After that I sat down and decided that I needed to buckle down and learn to actually enjoy this whole new world of photography and videography before I tried to make money from it.That brings me to about a month and a half ago. I had just purchased a Sigma 70-200 f/2.8. I went with my buddy to a local reservoir that had been partially drained a few years ago. I was messing around with long exposures on my also new 17-55 f/2.8 and variable ND filter. As we were leaving, I see a little bluebird land on this plant right in front of me and my friend. I immediately drop my backpack, hastily throw on my 70/200 and zoom in as close as I can to this little bird. I ended up getting a picture that I still consider pretty cool as that was the first picture that 70/200 took.That was kind of the turning point for me. When photography became my main hobby and I kind of abandoned videography (too much can go wrong and it wasn’t really enjoyable to me!).I’ve always been a bit of a shut in. That hasn’t changed honestly but I’ve been far more active and much more willing to go out and just take photos. I was getting to the point where I was barely leaving my room (I’m a seasonal worker and winter is when work really slows down but I’m lucky enough that I can kind of go through winter with the money I earned throughout the season). Anyways, last month I actually decided to go to NYC, something I would NEVER want to do but I convinced my friends to go with me and we had a blast walking around all day and I got some pretty cool pictures while I was out there.It’s only been 3 months but it has been the longest three months of my life. It felt like an eternity ago that I was walking through the office doors, setting up my T7 for a video and pretending to know what the hell I was doing.It’s been a fun journey so far, I’m excited to see where it takes me. Whether it becomes solely a hobby, or I end up making money off of my photos, I’m happy to say that becoming a “photographer” has been a real life changer for me. via /r/photography https://ift.tt/3a2Rzwq