Welcome to The Nervous Photographer! This blog is dedicated to my adventures in photography. In particular, I'm an "NF" personality type (INFJ to be exact), which means in some sense that I can be an emotional person and that I often, though not nearly as much as I'd like, understand my and other people's emotions and why we do what we do. So this blog will be both about the technical side of photography and also about the emotional side of it, especially my emotions. And of course it will feature photos. Now a bit about me.
I've been traveling for work since 2005, but I only occasionally took pictures at first; I didn't even get my first digital camera until the end of 2006. At that point, it was more about snapshots; for me, true photography started with the photo of the Golden Gate bridge you see in the background of this blog and just below this paragraph, taken September 23, 2011.
I'll tell the story of this shot later, but it was looking over the photos I took that day that something sparked in me. This in particular feels like San Francisco to me. There's fog, but cars are still going through and people aren't letting it get in their way. That's so like San Francisco; between geographical challenges, not exactly pristine weather, and earthquake fault lines, they built one of the most beautiful cities in the US. This is one thing I long to do with photography; I want to tell stories like this and capture some of the beauty God has placed in this world.
Shortly after taking those photos in San Francisco, I got fed up with my point and shoot and when it stopped working entirely, I decided to go headfirst and get my first DSLR, the Canon Rebel T3i, in April of 2012. I also took a class on things like ISO, aperture value, and shutter speed, and then it was time to get to work. I'll be writing more about my photography history after getting a DSLR as time goes on.
Why is this blog called The Nervous Photographer? Well, it's certainly not because I get nervous every time I press the shutter button. It's more about the fact that I'm an engineer and have always valued precision. Things have a right or wrong answer; either the cell phone network works or it doesn't. Photography is a jolt to the other side of my brain which has always wanted more time, but I've pushed it down because of the lack of precision. And that's what makes me nervous about this hobby--how do I know if my photos are doing justice to the beauty I see? Can I really trust a "feel?" Can I trust my "feel" to be "good enough?" What does that even mean? I also get nervous about where this hobby may be going in my life--will it be more than a hobby? How much time should I put into this while still doing my job as unto the Lord, running a board game group, and other things? I've never been good at the concept of moderation; once I commit to something, I go headlong into it. Maybe I should just enjoy the ride. I hope you'll enjoy it with me!
How did I get into photography?
I've been traveling for work since 2005, but I only occasionally took pictures at first; I didn't even get my first digital camera until the end of 2006. At that point, it was more about snapshots; for me, true photography started with the photo of the Golden Gate bridge you see in the background of this blog and just below this paragraph, taken September 23, 2011.
I'll tell the story of this shot later, but it was looking over the photos I took that day that something sparked in me. This in particular feels like San Francisco to me. There's fog, but cars are still going through and people aren't letting it get in their way. That's so like San Francisco; between geographical challenges, not exactly pristine weather, and earthquake fault lines, they built one of the most beautiful cities in the US. This is one thing I long to do with photography; I want to tell stories like this and capture some of the beauty God has placed in this world.
Shortly after taking those photos in San Francisco, I got fed up with my point and shoot and when it stopped working entirely, I decided to go headfirst and get my first DSLR, the Canon Rebel T3i, in April of 2012. I also took a class on things like ISO, aperture value, and shutter speed, and then it was time to get to work. I'll be writing more about my photography history after getting a DSLR as time goes on.
What makes me nervous about photography?
Why is this blog called The Nervous Photographer? Well, it's certainly not because I get nervous every time I press the shutter button. It's more about the fact that I'm an engineer and have always valued precision. Things have a right or wrong answer; either the cell phone network works or it doesn't. Photography is a jolt to the other side of my brain which has always wanted more time, but I've pushed it down because of the lack of precision. And that's what makes me nervous about this hobby--how do I know if my photos are doing justice to the beauty I see? Can I really trust a "feel?" Can I trust my "feel" to be "good enough?" What does that even mean? I also get nervous about where this hobby may be going in my life--will it be more than a hobby? How much time should I put into this while still doing my job as unto the Lord, running a board game group, and other things? I've never been good at the concept of moderation; once I commit to something, I go headlong into it. Maybe I should just enjoy the ride. I hope you'll enjoy it with me!
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