This is my first post of the 2016 year, and I have to be honest, I have no idea of where to even start. I have so many topics I want to cover through my blog and so little time. I mean we all know that as you get older the years go by faster, right? Anyways, I thought I would start this year off with explaining why I decided to become a photographer.
I've always been a fan of pictures, since I was a kid and my first cameras were those disposable ones that you only got to see what you took after your film was developed. I think I spent more time taking pictures of random things than the normal kid. So much that my step mom complained about having to develop the cameras with "nothing on them."
I slowly progressed into "selfies" like every other teenager during the Myspace days. I had all the angles figured out for taking the perfect profile picture. I never knew that that knowledge would help me out as a business woman.
I always liked taking pictures, but I never really saw it as a passion until I was forced to take a class my second year of college. Like other students, I had switched my major a few times at that point and had no idea what I wanted -Maybe nursing, maybe psychology, maybe graphic design? Either way, I wasn't sure what I wanted to be when I grew up.
I hated my teacher, I hated the class assignments, and I hated the final project. At that point I just hated photography. I just bought this new camera I had no idea how to use and this teacher was making me take pictures of damn flowers and leaves. To me, it sucked, and by sucked I mean fork out my eyeballs and feed them to ants suck. But something happened and I changed my mind.
I worked at JCPenney at the time, right in the children's department, and I folded clothes next to the portrait studio located there each day. Day in and day out I would hear people complain about their pictures, the service, the feeling of being rushed. As people would walk out I would catch a glance at the portraits that they were complaining about, and yes they were not much less than mediocre. That was on a good day, sorry the lovely ladies of JCP but it's the truth. I thought, I could do better than that and when I got the opportunity to photograph my friend's children, I did.
When I learned my camera, all the ins and outs of it, I fell back in love with photography. I love being able to see the world though a lens and capture it exactly how I want. I can make the saddest of places look beautiful. Taking a picture isn't just about snapping a button, it's about capturing the emotion of that setting, showing all of the details to why you found a reason to stop in your tracks and capture that particular moment. If you don't have an emotional connection with each image you take, then I'm sorry, but you are not a photographer, you're just a person with a camera hitting a button.
I became a photographer because I get excitement every time I look through my lens, because I am able to give someone something that no one else can. A complete replication of that memory. Sure, many people can take a picture, but can they actually capture the emotional aspect of it? That there is my job, and I am enamored with every moment of it. From the first "click" to the final flattening in Photoshop. I pour my entire heart and soul into each image I produce.
Some might understand what I am saying and know exactly how I feel about my work, others may think I am crazy for putting so much time and energy into what they would call "just pushing a button." My dear misinformed people, it's so much more, and to find out why you'll have to continue reading throughout the year. Tootles!
-Alex
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