I have always loved cameras. When I was a kid though, I couldn’t have one. When I got to adulthood, I had a series of inexpensive cameras and have a lot of fun photos to show for it. But none of them have much value except to me and the other people in them. It didn’t occur to me to take photos of anything except humans during various special occasions.
Flash forward to the digital era. Now, now without the need to develop film! Exciting times – I got a little Canon one-shot and had a great time with it. That it took passable video as well used to blow my mind. In 2004, I used a Panasonic video cam and the one-shot to create a music video. But eventually even those went the way of the dinosaur. I was thrilled when I got my first smartphone (android) and it took even better video.
It continues to amaze me that technology allows anyone to create their own digital media, including video, photos, music, animation, and more.
But it’s been only recently, within the last couple of years, that I’ve decided to get serious about photography and video. So I took a documentary film course and a photography course at UMass while working on my degree (I went back to college after a 30 year hiatus). And I have been so incredibly pulled in by it. It’s a chance to connect with nature and beauty that surpasses anything else I’ve experienced, thanks to being fortunate enough, at least for now, to live near the Pacific ocean and take jaunts out to magnificent natural habitats and splendid animals and foliage.
And so the journey continues.