Voyage Checklist

When it comes to people probably asking, “What are your hobbies?” or “What do you do in your spare time?” My answer is, “I love photography.” 

I don’t really think I can pin point a specific time in my life when I fell in love with photography. I do remember taking a photography class when I was about 11 years old at my local YMCA, but I believe that my interaction with photos came before that. I kinda just realized over time that I just take too many pictures, but it wasn’t just of people, but of nature or my surroundings. Back in my freshman year of high school, someone introduced me to a social media site, tumblr. It was a place that wouldn’t be blocked from the school network for a couple of weeks. Later on, the school caught on and blocked it. But I decided to still explore tumblr, and I got hooked. I discovered all types of blog posts, comedy, fan-fiction, memes, reflections, and my favorite: photography. I got to discover other types of pictures and their effects. At that moment I decided I wanted to achieve that type of photography. It was nature and people, or cities of around the world.That’s also when my passion to travel grew. I’m still on tumblr. Now as Instagram expanded and updated so many times, I got to see people post pictures of nature as well, so Instagram became my mobile tumblr. Now I’ve been talking about how I love taking pictures and all, but I unfortunately am not an owner of a Canon or Nikon DSLR. They’re very expensive and I figure, when I get a steady job and get enough net income, I’ll invest in a DSLR and lens. At first I used my mom’s nikon digital camera for a while, but I couldn’t take it with me all the time, so I then kept taking pictures with my phone. I was a big android fan for a while, but I gotta say that when I switched to iphone, I fell in love. The quality was way better than my chocolate phone, or MyTouch4G. Although now I think we all are noticing that the technological era has come very far that the camera quality of almost any phone has improved in the past years.

When I got to college, I wanted to take part in a magazine and take photo shoots. When I got to the first interest meeting for the magazine, I joined the other photographers and I suddenly felt like I wanted to shrink in my seat or become invisible so I could leave the room. The head photo editor asked each one of us what kind of equipment we used and what style of photography we liked to shoot. All I had was my phone and I had not established a style of photography. After the meeting ended, I walked away from that place promising myself that if I ever wanted to shoot in a magazine, I would have to be more experienced in photography. A year later I joined my school’s photography club and they had no problem with me not having a camera, they had a club camera and they also agreed that the iPhone’s quality is improving very much. I stuck with them for a bit and go to take pictures of whatever I wanted with my phone and I learned a few tricks. This semester, I joined the Daily Targum (School Newspaper) as a contributing photographer. The great thing about this is that I can practice and experiment with different Nikon DSLRs and Lenses. Although I do prefer a Canon, the Nikon is pretty good quality as well.

I believe I’ve come a long way, when it comes to photography. I sometimes get compliments from some of my pictures, and I’d like to thank my phone for that. But I am not seeking compliments, I just want people to see what I see through my eyes, through my lens. Now, the above quote in the picture, I think depicts what I feel about photography.

“Taking pictures is savoring life intensely every hundreth of a second.” – Mark Riboud.

I feel like every time I see something cool or visit a new place, I have to take a picture. Who knows when I’ll return to that place? Who knows if I’ll remember those places in my dreams? Every time I get a great shot (especially candids) I treasure it. It’s a moment of life. It’s a moment that can be forgotten, but can be remembered by just looking at it in a photograph. In life we have many moments that are so perfect, and what better way than to capture it, so that twenty years from now, you can look at that moment and relive it. This is why I love photography and why I will always take too many pictures.