Where to start is the biggest question out there for anyone trying to start something new. Flashback several years, stuck in a menial job that I hated, I wanted to try my hand at photography. Now, I had taken pictures all my adult life but it's been point and shoot without theory, fundamentals, technique, composition and any basic rules for photography. It wasn't till the last several years that my casual shooting practices became serious. Now look at me, I'm blogging about it.
If you ask me what was the start of this journey, it was probably my displeasure with my 40 hour job. I wanted to create and be creative and thus the small flame was fanned and here we are, fully involved. The spark grew with my first serious camera, a Nikon Coolpix P900, which if you ask any pro photographer, that is not a pro camera. Yet, it was for me. It had this super 2000mm zoom which was ridiculous. However, if you research the specs on it, the sensor was a crop sensor with 16 mega pixels. Phones today have better but it was my first and I was able to learn settings and start to get a grasp at the vastness of what photography was.
It wasn't until I joined a photography club in my hometown that I learned real quick, that my camera wasn't up to par. My pictures side by side with there's was enough to send me tail tucked. I quit for a few years until I did my research and found out that my camera wasn't what I thought it was. That brought me to my next upgrade, the bigger brother of the P900, the Nikon Coolpix P1000. This massive 5 pound beast boasted 3000mm zoom, a focus ring, and RAW capabilities. Surely now I had what it took to make great photos.
Again, I was wrong. My mistake was the sensor again. When someone says bigger isn't always better, they aren't a photographer. Working with the same sensor as the last camera, it lacked in quality and sharpness. I quickly realized it and pursued yet another camera.
Nikon's Z5 mirrorless camera was my next beauty. A full frame sensor, which by now I had learned the difference in sensors, 25 mega pixels and more. She was my gateway drug into the pro realm of cameras. It was always my gateway because if I pursue something, I go all out. My eye was really on the Nikon Z9 but my wallet was slightly shy of the required $5,000 it cost. Instead, I saved up for lenses. My camera came with two lenses, the 24-50mm and the 50-250mm. Then my son's wedding was coming up so I got the 50mm 1.8/f which I heard was the quintessential lens for portraits. Then Nikon went and made a 180-600mm and I saved up for it. Then, good grief, Nikon dropped the price of the Z7ii by $1,000 and that was a deal I couldn't pass up. So here I am, hopped up on equipment, buzzed like a teen on Red Bull and no end in sight for this madness.
Once I began and the momentum of the madness called photography started to quickly pick up speed, I couldn't stop it nor do I want to. I suppose the need in me to master a thing drives me forward and when I see a technique that catches my eye, well then I'm off to the races.
My genre, I don't have one because I want them all. Portrait, headshots, sports, weddings, landscape, wildlife and more, I feel the need to try and to conquer each one. I figure, the more I know, the more I can do.
My current fixation is the foggy, backlite sport photo. I want to do some shots for a local gym and my mind is buzzy with ideas.
So that's me in a nutshell. More than a middle aged photography nut. Sold out and desperate to see and do everything.
I hope this encourages those that want to start a whole new thing, to go out and do it. In my experience, it only takes time and passion.
Now go shoot something!
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