My creative lesson 46 - I am a photographer
15 November, 2020
This week's challenge at 52Frames, "Shoot with a Mobile Phone" was 100% made for me. I am constantly seeing something interesting on my walks or commute and am compelled to take a photo of it.
Family and friends who accompany me on my walks, often restrict me to only taking five photos. This is really a torture for me because my town is uber-picturesque.
On my longer hikes, I often pack my phone deep away in the inner folds of my backpack to make it as unreachable as possible. I remind myself that there is a time to enjoy nature through a camera and a time to just be part of nature. No screens and filters necessary.
And yet, I will often return with a few more photos on my phone.
The photo folder on my phone is packed with these photos. Some of them I share in my stories on Instagram, others I upload for the crowd looking for free photos at Publicdomainpictures.net. Most of the photos however, just stay on my phone until I decide that they are taking up too much space and then I delete them.
Chase Jarvis said that the best camera you have is the one with you. He is a world-renowned travel photographer and I imagine that he meant that a common garden variety DSLR is fine instead of those multi-lens super expensive cameras that he usually works with. He probably did NOT talk about the camera that is attached to your mobile phone.
I think he also meant that if you see something amazing, then the camera that you have with you is fine. For example a baby being born or if you come across a deer in the forest or see how a bird catches a fish.
I do not think that he meant you should take a 1001 photos of interesting wall colours.😁
As you can imagine, it was NOT easy for me to choose which photo I to send in for the Mobile phone album. I took even more photos than usual, and even on a special photo hike where I allowed myself to walk and shoot. (I even managed to drive myself crazy!
Of course I selected none of those special shooting hike photos. The water tower photo that finally got to represent me for this week was taken the next day on a "walk-only" walk 😁😁
Isn't the light just amazingly gorgeous? This was totally a have-to-stop-to-take-a-photo moment, right? Besides, that water tower and I have a relationship. It often greets me on my walks and has become a friendly milestone.
So what is the lesson that I have learned this week? (Apart from the fact that I had a lot of fun?)
I learned that I AM a photographer.
It is said that one becomes what you do. So if you want to be something, just start doing it.
Writers write, runners run, cooks cook and photographers take photos.
Maybe I should walk around with a more serious camera than a mobile phone. Or hire models and put together a real photo shoot.
But in the meantime, the light is just so beautiful that I have to capture it. With the camera that is already in my hand.
I belong to this photo group called 52Frames where we have to take a photo and upload it every week. (It is 100% free to join but take note that the deadlines are strict.) Plodding along every week getting my weekly photo has taught me a lot about creativity. My other creative endeavors are writing words, writing code and messing around with drawings and fiber art.
Here are a few of my other lessons about creativity that I have learnt this year:
My creative lesson 43 — Making it work
My creative lesson 44 — Seeing the beauty in abstraction
Creative lesson 45 — Seeing the signs
