We all know those people. The person who can hear music and just play it on the piano or guitar. Or maybe you have a friend that you can describe something so aloud, and they’ll understand, and draw it better than you could have ever imagined. Or that person with penmanship so amazing, that it makes you want to never write another letter by hand again. Let me just say that those people are awesome. I envy them greatly for their artistic ability and imagination. I, however, was not blessed with those abilities. I could hit a baseball over the fence, dunk a basketball, and perform other athletic feats.
However, those abilities are fleeting, and when my athletic playing career ended after college, I needed some way to be creative. Business became that outlet for me. I grew a business, and with help from my family and the community in general, was able to sell it. I moved and started a new career. I ran some side businesses, but still needed a way to be creative. I understand why women like to craft, and men like to build and weld. That, however, wasn’t me. On a side note, I’m in the middle of a home renovation, so by the time I’m done, I’m pretty sure I’ll have some of that building knowledge down. So my business needed photos, and I finally had a reason to learn something slightly artistic. Fast forward a few years, and I’ve learned a lot. So much that I finally feel comfortable to show you all some of my images. Photography has become something that I have become deeply passionate about, and it does, in fact, fulfill that need to be artistic as well. Here are some reasons why photography fulfills my artistic need.
- I’m visually oriented
Different people learn and are stimulated in different ways. I’m a visual person. I’m not really an auditory guy. I don’t even really listen to much music anymore. I have a terrible voice, and hate hearing myself on tape. I’ve always been a big movie watcher, and I grew up loving magazines like SLAM and later Flex and Muscle & Fitness. So I’ve enjoyed things visually. I enjoyed movies so much that I heavily contemplated going to school for something like film editing. Photography allows me to create visual pieces of art. I call them art, you call them photographs or images. But I get to see what I’ve done, and I like that.
- Flash photography allows me to create something from scratch
When I watch someone draw a picture, I am most amazed at the first half of the drawing. Those first few lines that look so random and oddly placed in my head, actually give the artist the building blocks for the rest of the drawing or painting. While I’m relatively new to flash photography, I feel the same way about it as I do painting or drawing. Flash allows me to build a scene in the exact way I want it, giving it structure and framing it exactly how I want it. It allows me to build it flash by flash, until the scene is fully constructed in the exact way I saw it in my head, and in some cases even better.
- I suck at other art, and feel like I can actually progress in this art form
I played the piano for about 4 years when I was younger. I’m very happy I did. However, I probably should have progressed more in 4 years. While some of this was due to my lack of drive, I believe that I’m not really built for music as much as other things. In photography, I find myself progressing greatly every time I pick up the camera, and I have the drive to continue.
- There’s always something new to learn. It fulfills my thirst for knowledge.
Just when I think that I am getting decently good at one type of photography, I learn that I can do better. However, now I actually need to get better. Good thing I enjoy the learning process. I’m learning new things all the time. From landscape, portrait, flash, indoor photography, to better composition and post processing skills, there are always areas that you can improve. Don’t believe a photographer that thinks he or she has mastered their craft. They haven’t. There is always something they can get better at. I enjoy improving my knowledge of photography, and won’t stop learning.
I hope you enjoyed this blog post. If any of this rings true for you, pick up a camera and start shooting, editing, and don’t stop learning.